‘Pink needed some shades of grey’: a review

Finally saw the much-raved about Pink over the weekend. If you haven’t seen it yet but intend to, then don’t read further. Spoilers follow.

Pic courtesy: Wikipedia

Enjoyed it immensely and was moved by some moments and lines; it evoked my sense of outrage as a woman who has spent 2/3rds of her life in Delhi. A commendable-effort indeed. I don’t have anything new to add in terms of praise as a lot has already been covered in reviews by critics and posts on social media. But I’d just like to stress on the sense of elation one felt upon seeing the brilliant Piyush Mishra (we are not related, I’ve double-checked 😛 ) appear on-screen as the prosecutor in the case.

I’d like to dwell, albeit briefly, on some of the finer points that bothered me instead:
1. The moment Amitabh Bachchan appears on screen and is allowed to dominate, notice how his “talktime” increases and is matched by a proportionate decrease in that of the three protagonists. Would it have killed the makers of Pink to let the women remain the heroes of the saga? Couldn’t the script have allowed Bachchan to remain a supporting cast member instead of upstaging the others? This is a problem with a lot of films in mainstream Bollywood today.

2. The portrayal of women either as wailing banshees, over-emotional, raving lunatics OR as whimpering, simpering, traumatised individuals rendered mute, who need saving. With 3 women in prominent roles, there was enough scope to avoid this kind of stereotyping. Pink could have done with a touch of grey.

3. Bachchan as Sehgal barking at the women to pipe down during court sessions every time any of them spoke out of turn… Very unsettling. Unless of course I have missed a subtle point the makers may have been purposefully trying to make.

4. The clip that plays at the end over the closing credits was voyeuristic and unnecessary. I’m sure multiple iterations and descriptions of the incident (that the film revolves around) through out the 2+-hour film were enough for viewers to understand what transpired. Some things can be left to the imagination. One doesn’t need everything spelled out.

Glad that Pink isn’t the only political film with a strong message in theatres at the moment. There’s also Parched, that I hope to see one of these days.