Amitabh Bachchan Reveals What Attracted Him To Pink!

Amitabh Bachchan’s commandment for the boys in Pink has earned him a legion of young female fans. Farhana Farook hails the unprecedented success of the man and his message in the film.

- Farhana Farook

Amitabh Bachchan’s fans cannot be defined by demographics. From grandmas and mothers to aunts... all have been swayed by this tall, dark and angry superstar. But with Shoojit Sircar’s Pink, the Big B charisma has reloaded itself... across countries, cultures and continents. More so, Gen Y has been inducted into his bourgeoning fan club. The bastions of lawmakers and law enforcers, the NGOs, the crusaders, the activists... and of course the victims of sexual abuse and assault themselves have since centuries tried to revolt against and reign in the predatory nature of men. But none has driven home the point as effectively as lawyer Deepak Sehgal in Pink. The efficacy of his talent aside, what perhaps worked was the patriarch’s emotional swing over the audience. When Amitabh Bachchan emphatically says, “No means no and when someone says ‘no’, you stop!”... the audience did stop... to re-examine their prejudice veiled by a convoluted sense of propriety vis a vis women. Pink is one instance where the decree derived its sanctity as much from the message as from the Messiah...

Pink...has condemned the ‘judgemental’ biases that colour society’s perception of women. What are the finest reactions you’ve received for the film?

The reactions have been most overwhelming and far too many to enumerate here. But suffice to say they range from a feeling of great emotion to one of ‘about time’ someone brought the issue out from its claustrophobic bindings into the open. The range of the reactions have come from the common man, the lawyers, from the politicians, the media heads, the activists and more. Most of them have one common word to say ‘speechless’ and ‘stunned’.

Apart from the critical applause, what is the emotional gratification of playing lawyer Deepak Sehgal?