BackSudhir Mishra | When a woman says ‘no’
The director on his new film and how women challenge the workplace
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Q & A | Sudhir Mishra
Sudhir Mishra’s 1996 crime-thriller Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin was ahead of its time, while the 2005 drama Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi is perhaps his most important film. Mishra’s latest work Inkaar is his third film with Chitrangda Singh. An award-winning writer-director, Mishra is also recognized as the actor from Traffic Signal (2007), which he describes as “unfortunate". In this interview he speaks about the new film in which he explores sexual harassment and power politics in the workplace. Edited excerpts:
Why did you pick this story?
The writer Manoj Tyagi brought the subject to me but I didn’t want to make a simplistic film on sexual harassment. I told him I’d rather make a more layered film, so he worked on it. On the pretext of a sexual harassment case we have made a film on power and ambition. When women take their rightful place in the modern workplace it challenges all sorts of cultural preconceptions and prejudices.
It is set in the advertising industry. Could it have been any other corporate set-up?
Yes. The same situation could occur in a government office in Varanasi or in the film industry. The reaction to allegations of sexual harassment is often the same: What’s the big deal; why are you overreacting. A woman’s success is often ascribed to her relationship with a male superior. In the film industry, when it comes to women, it is always ascribed to some other relationship. But it’s not the same with men. Women have understood that it is their fundamental right to say no, to react and to come out in the open. They know their rights better and sometimes men cannot handle that. Harassment could begin with something as seemingly innocuous as sending a lewd joke, but one has to be sensitive to boundaries. Harassment begins when a woman says no and you ignore it. Hence the title Inkaar. I don’t like making simple films where women are always right. I like to explore situations where women are wrong and admit to being wrong. That’s the difference: Women don’t have an ego or a moustache which needs to be cut if they are wrong. I have not known submissive women; I like strong women who know their mind.
How do Arjun Rampal and Singh fit in?
Rahul is a charismatic corporate head honcho, a small-town guy who worked his way up, and Arjun looked the part. Chitrangda is a nuanced actress who doesn’t punch anything; she allows the story to flow and then you realize how good her performance is.
What was the biggest challenge in directing ‘Inkaar’?
I tried to make a film that is very simple at the core. Many of my films follow many stories; Inkaar just follows one. Maintaining two points of view was most interesting for me.
Looking back at 2012, what are some of the highlights for you?
Theatrical spaces and a young audience mean every film has a fair chance. I think the rise of Anurag Kashyap has been fantastic. I am very proud that he started his career in my office and while at one point he may have considered me his inspiration, today I consider him my main inspiration. Film-makers like Dibakar Banerjee and Tigmanshu Dhulia have proved there are audiences for their films too. For all of us who are storytellers, life is becoming easier because there isn’t a pressure to work with stars. I have no problem with stars when they are cast right, but it’s wonderful that Aamir (Khan), Irrfan (Khan), Saif (Ali Khan), Abhishek (Bachchan), Arjun (Rampal), Nawazuddin (Siddiqui) are all working in the same industry.
Inkaar releases in theatres on 15 January.
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