Anubhav Sinha says he has changed as a filmmaker, choosing to make films that take a stand, even if it is over ‘just one slap’
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 24, 2020)

Years ago, a lady, who had taken regular beatings from her award-winning director-husband for 20 years, told me that if a woman did not walk out of the marriage after the first slap, she might never do it. Was the trigger for your upcoming film, Thappad, a story like this?
I’ve heard many such stories, but this one is not rooted in a real incident. It came from a moment of epiphany. I was sitting with Taapsee (Pannu)— we were flying somewhere—and I wondered why we didn’t make films on chhoti chhoti baatein, like an otherwise-perfect husband slapping his wife for the first time and her reaction to it. She pondered over it for a while and told me that if I ever made this film, she wanted to be in it. The thought kept returning to me. Finally, after many additions, I was ready with a story.

How many women know that a single slap can land a man in jail?
Not many. We, particularly women, are clueless about the law in India. And even when informed, there’s so much stigma attached to going to the cops, which is seen as ruining family prestige, that a woman would rather lie than show the husband in a bad light. I know it’s ridiculous because he has violated her self-respect, but women are conditioned to believe that it’s their responsibility to keep the family together. So, while this film is about domestic violence, it is also a trigger to touch on such conditioning through several other female characters, including one who is happy to live without a man because she has had it so good before her husband died.

Self-respect and dignity aren’t usually on top of our priority list. Did you, at any point, try to convince your co-writer, Mrunmayee Lagoo Waikul, to bring in a few clichés to make the premise more acceptable?
(Laughs) Actually, the opposite happened. One day, Mrunmayee told me that Vikram (Taapsee’s husband in the film who hits her, played by Pavail Gulati,) was too good a guy and we needed to make him darker. I asked her if she would forgive her husband, a very sweet man, if he did what Vikram had, and she replied, “Maybe I would, once” and I retorted, “Then, what Amrita (Taapsee’s character) is doing is wrong? The film is wrong?” She assured me it wasn’t. That conversation became a scene in the film between Amrita and her lawyer, Netra. It disturbed me for a few days because my co-writer felt the guy should be forgiven and I didn’t agree with that. But then, I understood that this goes back to the same conditioning we were talking about where women take the blame of confrontation and consequently, don’t want to disturb the balance. But I wanted to disturb this balance; otherwise we normalise such a situation that men would happily live with.

In the credits, your name reads Anubhav Susheela Sinha. Why?
Susheela is my mother’s name. When I was making the so-called commercial blockbusters, she had dismissed them as “bakwas, bas maar peet”. One day, during the post-production of Thappad, I got emotional over a scene and felt that had she been alive, she’d have liked this film and thought to dedicate it to her by taking her name as my middle name. My producer Bhushan Kumar volunteered to do the same, so did several others in the crew.

Would you call yourself a good son, husband and father today?
I’d like to believe I am, but it is not a question for me to answer. At least I am aware of who I am, and I try to better myself.

After Mulk, Article 15 and Thappad, how do you feel when you look back on your earlier films, like Dus, Cash and Ra.One?
(Laughs) I feel I have grown up. Earlier, I was only trying to make profitable propositions. My creativity was limited to how beautiful a film looked and sounded. Today, I am a purist, I make a film because there is a voice I want to raise. I am no longer aiming for a Rs 100-crore box-office, but since a film is a capital-intensive art form, I’ve to ensure that no one loses money, but makes some.

You’re in a good space, given your last two films were hits.
Article 15 was not the first film on casteism, but it brought the discussion into the mainstream. Going by the numbers, there was a sense of urgency to watch it, and that’s encouraging. Money is a heartless commodity, and it loves precedence. Now that my last two films have worked, there is money to invest in films rooted in real issues. It feels like there’s an audience for ‘content cinema’, a term I don’t subscribe to.

Buzz is, you will soon start a ‘highly political drama’, Anek, with Ayushmann Khurrana and Taapsee Pannu…
I’ve read this too, but all that I’m ready to say at this moment is I start shooting a film in April.

Ever wanted to go back to making an action film, like War or Baaghi?
I know my next three films, they are not War or Baaghi. But the idea of a big action film is appealing. Nothing is impossible...

Dia Mirza opens up about her decision to part ways with Sahil Sangha after five years of marriage and why it was imperative to do a film with Anubhav Sinha
Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 11, 2020)

Talking to Dia Mirza is like watching a sitcom. Every few minutes, she breaks into peals of laughter, amused by her own mirth, and it's a cue for us to join in. Over the course of the conversation, it becomes apparent that, if not an actress, Dia would have been a life-coach, imparting lessons she's learnt watching trees flower and wither, and children in war-torn regions play cricket. For now, though, the actress is trying to bring about a change through the stories she tells on screen.

Her decade begins with Anubhav Sinha’s Thappad, something Dia finds hilarious for its irony. When she can contain her laughter, she reminds you she's worked with Anubhav earlier in music videos, also Dus and Cash. "But his narrative style was very different back then. There were glimpses of the genius in Mulk and then, I watched Article 15 and decided I'd shoot myself in the head if this man didn't work with me,” she reminisces, adding he didn’t reply and she thought he’d become too big a director. But then she learnt that he was hesitant to approach her for a character. “There was a long gap between Salaam Mumbai and Sanju and people thought I was no longer interested in acting or was being too picky. Also, actresses sometimes ask stupid questions, like their onscreen age or that of their kids and this comes in the way of getting good roles.”

When she finally met Anubhav, he sketched out the gist of Thappad for her and without asking which character he wanted her to play, she gave her nod. “I love Shivani Fonseca because I believe in what she represents but I'm more stoked that Thappad is a part of my filmography,” she avers. Prod her on her character and she says Shivani is someone many women aspire to be because she has found who she is.

Quiz her on the kind of person she is, and Dia points out that she doesn’t believe in holding grudges. “So, I vent, then return to my serene self. I’ve been meditating since 14 years and my mornings are spent in the building garden. Even my home is full of lush greenery, with birds and bees visiting. Otherwise, the city gets to you—so many angry people around, including the media,” she sighs.

Is she hinting at the media frenzy around her separation from husband Sahil Sangha after five years of marriage? Dia is suddenly all serious. “Now every time people write about me, they mention I'm separated. I want to ask them to move on. My privilege as a celebrity doesn't disallow me pain. I derived strength from my parents' separation 34 years ago. I told myself that if I could handle it at four-and-a-half, there’s no reason why, at 37, I wouldn't be able to. Men and women hesitate to take certain decisions because they're afraid, you have to find the courage to believe that this too shall pass,” the actress philosophises.

Talking about parents, hers come from different religious backgrounds. “I was allowed to take my adoptive father’s surname. My birth certificate has a different name. My passport has both my adoptive and biological father's surnames. We are an inclusive society and don't care about religion. It's bizarre to paint everything with the same brush,” the actress asserts, saying they’d celebrate all Hindu festivals with her mother's family and all Muslim festivals with her stepfather's family. “I lost my biological father at nine, but up until then, we celebrated Christmas and Easter too.”

Meanwhile, since she’s from Hyderabad originally, it is a dream come true to work with Nagarjuna in her first Telugu film, Wild Dog. She also wants to produce films that compel the audience to think. "When you believe in your work, money follows,” she says, adding that when she set up her production company, everyone told her she’d gone mad. “No one says that to the actors. They are never too young to produce, no one tells them that your acting career will be over if you get into production,” she signs off.

Niharika Lal (BOMBAY TIMES; December 17, 2019)

Anubhav Sinha has helmed socially relevant films like Mulk and Article 15 and he has also directed Tum Bin, a full-fledged romantic drama. While interacting with the audience at Jashn-e-Rekhta, Anubhav, who has received death threats and been a punching bag for trolls on social media, said that he believes in not thinking about consequences when there is a story that needs to be told. The filmmaker, who spent a year in Delhi, jobless and trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, revealed that it was the trolls who made him realise about the power he had as a filmmaker. Referring to his years before Mulk as a ‘past life’, he also said that being praised for Article 15 prompted him to go into hiding in Kashmir. Besides talking at length about filmmaking, Anubhav also discussed the current situation in the country.

‘I REALISED THAT I HAD THE POWER TO CONTROL WHAT PEOPLE SAW AND THOUGHT ABOUT FOR THREE HOURS’
While talking about how he decided to make Mulk, the filmmaker revealed that it was the Twitter trolls that gave him the push. He said, “Till two years ago, being a filmmaker was my profession. Mulk as a subject is something I felt very strongly about. I used to talk to people on Twitter. Paid trolls mujhse jhagda karte thay, Pakistan ka visa dete thay. It was a useless exercise, and that’s when I realised that as a filmmaker, I had the power to control what people saw and thought about for three hours. And that was when I decided that there should be a purpose to filmmaking, now it’s not just a profession.”

He directed Mulk because he felt strongly about the subject. What is the one piece of advice he would give to budding filmmakers? “Tumhare samaj mein jis baat ko le kar sabse zyada gussa hai usko le kar film banao. Film achhi banegi. Kyunki Mulk ko lekar main bahut naraz tha, phir banayi maine Article 15, woh bhi Mulk hai, next film bhi woh hi hai. Mulk ke baad bhi main bas Mulk hi bana raha hoon,” he answered.

Talking about the reactions he received for Article 15, the filmmaker said, “When I named my film Article 15, people in the industry were wondering, ‘What kind of a name is this for a film?’ But that film did more business than big films, but what’s more important is that Article 15 struck an emotional chord with the audience. People called me up to tell me how much they liked Mulk and Article 15. Usually, when a film is good, they just drop a text. I got so scared with all the praise and love that a few days after the release of Article 15, I went into hiding. Main bhaag gaya tha Kashmir kyunki wahan network nahi hota hai, aur ab toh bilkul hi nahi hota hai. Uska jab status change hua tha usse kuch din pehle hi main Kashmir ho ke aaya tha. That’s the first time I went to Kashmir.”

‘PEOPLE WERE READY TO SLIT MY THROAT FOR `1 LAKH, SO I WAS LIKE I WILL PAY `2 LAKH, DO NOT SLIT MY THROAT’
Before the release of Article 15, Anubhav Sinha received death threats. The filmmaker told the audience that the Police Commissioner of Mumbai had provided him with security a couple of days before the release of Article 15. He joked, “Zubaan kaatne ki dhamki mil rahi thi mujhe. People were ready to slit my throat for Rs 1 lakh, so I was like I will pay Rs 2 lakh, do not slit my throat.”

‘JO LOG MERA BHARAT MAHAAN KE NAARE LAGATE HAIN, MAIN UN SAB SE KAHIN ZYADA APNE DESH SE PYAAR KARTA HOON’
The director is not one to mince his words while expressing his dissatisfaction with where the country is headed. However, Anubhav revealed that his friends and well-wishers stop him from tweeting. When asked why he answered, “Phir aap kahenge siyasi baat kar raha hai. Bol doon?” Many from the audience shouted, “Bol ke lab azaad hain tere.” He paused, and continued, “Kyunki aaj kal virodh mana hai. Aur mujhe virodh pasand hai. Mera desh pareshan hai. Jo log Mera Bharat Mahaan ke naare lagate hain, main unn sab se kayi zyada apne desh se pyaar karta hoon. Log jab sadak par nikalte hain toh mujhe bahut taqleef hoti hai. Jab ek pradesh hum se baat nahi kar pata toh mujhe bahut taqleef hoti hai. Ye mera farz hai, aur yeh mera haq hai ki main uss taqleef ka izhar karoon. Aur woh main karta hoon, aur woh fashionable nahi hai aaj kal. Toh isliye mujhe daant padti hai.”

‘UNTIL I MET SHAH RUKH KHAN, I USED TO THINK I AM THE MOST HARDWORKING GUY ON THE PLANET’
Anubhav Sinha told the audience that after Cash (2007), people stopped answering his calls, and he thought that his career was finished. But then he got a call from Shah Rukh Khan to direct Ra.One (2011). Talking about his equation with Shah Rukh, the director shared, “Shah Rukh isn’t a star. It’s a privilege to know him. I always tell him that I am more interested in getting to know him than making a film with him, because I get to learn so much from him. I love how he’s humble and arrogant at the same time. He has continued to be a middle-class boy even at this stage of his life when he is ‘Shaaaaaaah Rukh Khan’. And until I met him, I used to think I was the most hardworking guy on the planet.”