Sircar's Magic

For Shoojit Sircar women empowerment begins at home. Suman Sharma meets the gentle crusader.

- Suman Sharma

To say Shoojit Sircar is happy with the response his production Pink garnered would be an understatement. There’s a sense of peace, of retribution, around him having been able to say something that was simmering within him since long. And also because what he said has found universal acceptance. He seems to have attained a sublime sense of composure. “One day my wife Jhuma and I were having our morning tea when she remarked that even in 2015 we are only reading about women empowerment. What she meant was that nothing had actually changed over the decades. That kind of wounded me inside.” he says. “We read on Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramhans and so many thinkers but look what’s happening in our country! I started working on a script and then found my writer Ritesh Shah, who also shared similar concerns,” he says. He’s pleasantly surprised that the film has resonated way beyond his expectations. “Women around the country have reavealed that they have been through the experiences of my young protagonists (Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tairang) in Pink. They may not have reported these to the police but they do feel the same outrage.”