MAN BEHIND MARDAANI

MARDAANI 2 DIRECTOR GOPI PUTHRAN BELIEVES THAT IT’S THE AGE OF THE ‘ANGRY YOUNG WOMAN’. RAGHUVENDRA SINGH AGREES WITH HIM

- RAGHUVENDRA SINGH

Gopi Puthran started his career as a writer with Lafangey Parindey (2010), starring Neil Nitin Mukesh and Deepika Padukone. The film, directed by Pradeep Sarkar, didn’t do well at the box-office but helped Puthran form an alliance with producers Yash Raj Films. He then wrote Mardaani (2014), directed again by Sarkar, and won plaudits for his screenplay.

Recently, he made his debut as a director with the hard-hitting Mardaani 2, which carried further the story of hard-boiled cop, SP Shivani Shivaji Roy, played by Rani Mukerji. Inspired by true rape and murder incidents, the story follows Shivani, who goes up against a 21-year-old rapist, Sunny Prasad Yadav, played by Vishal Jethwa.

It was Aditya Chopra, who asked him to direct the sequel since as a writer Puthran knew the universe of Mardaani and also because he was the assistant director on the film too. Aditya also believed that his rapport with Rani would make his debut comfortable. Pradeep Sarkar was directing Helicopter Eela at the time and readily gave his blessings to his protégé. “I’m eternally grateful to Pradeepda for getting me into the industry and for always having my back. I invited Dada for a special screening of the film. He turned emotional after watching it, saying that I’d nailed it. After seeing his response, I felt validated.”