Actor Rani Mukerji tells Chahak Mittal that even though women might have grown stronger and independent than they were before, criminal minds haven’t changed a bit. And that is exactly what Mardaani 2 is about
It was in 1997 when actor Rani Mukerji played a rape survivor in Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat. It’s 2019 and she is still fighting against sex offenders and tracking such perverts in society in Mardaani 2. For all her convincing performances, she is distraught that her roles haven’t changed ground reality. Even though women might have grown stronger and independent than they were before, criminal minds haven’t changed a bit. What else could make it more evident than the recent examples? Be it Delhi’s Nirbhaya or Hyderabad’s veterinarian and a thousand other innocent women who were forced to succumb to brutality, the bestiality about dominating women continues.
For the actor, the journey from Mardaani (2014) to Mardaani 2 has been full of a similar emotion — anger. She explains, “I actually channelised all my anger that I felt against the Nirbhaya case through my portrayal of Shivani Shivaji Roy. I strongly pondered if there was something that I could have done? And as a performer, I felt this is the way that I could talk to my sisters in the country and tell them about the growing threat on the streets. And it’s not just here, but everywhere.”
While Mardaani talked about sex trafficking, its sequel reflects the rising sexual assaults in the country. The actor feels that there is need to look for solutions, which can only be found through educating people and building gender sensitivity among all sections of society, ensuring it trickles down to the lowest level. “Mardaani also looks at how nobody is talking about how to end this crime. It’s so huge and spread in various fragments. Women really need to be educated, made aware that nobody can be trusted so easily. Girls need to be careful outside schools and colleges. With Mardaani 2, the messaging is very loud and clear about how there’s a threat from nameless, faceless and ageless criminals today. Somewhere we need to make a strong stand. It could be an innocent looking person who could be capable of a very heinous crime. So you can’t trust anyone. The film also looks at juvenile criminals, which is again a major problem with society today since cases like these haven’t stopped even after seven years of Nirbhaya. We need to stop and think why we are not able to implement certain laws which will send shivers down the spine of a person who is even thinking of committing a crime,” she says.
This time her anger has doubled after the rape of a vet in Hyderabad. She says, “I wonder what are the parents of the girl, who lost her life, going through currently? How are they going to feel better? How are they going to get a closure to what has happened to their child? They will never be able to take this out of their system. It has scarred their lives. Will they ever be able to get the justice for what happened? Nothing could dull their pain. And these kinds of incidences are going to continue if women don’t take charge of their own lives. We cannot be doing candle marches everytime a woman is raped and killed and then eventually move on with our lives after some time. But how can we make sure women are safe? Let’s make them stronger, shouldn’t we?”
Such were the questions she raised before prepping for her role. How can girls be prepared for any eventuality? What are we carrying in our bags? What are we doing to learn self-defence techniques? She recalls, “When I did Mardaani, I met the Krav Maga martial art experts from Israel who teach the art to women in their country. So nobody can dare touch an Israeli woman because she is empowered enough to protect herself. So why aren’t we training our children now? Why aren’t we making self-defence a compulsory subject in schools and colleges? I was not a mother during Mardaani. Today, I am the mother of a daughter and would love if her school makes something like this mandatory.”
The film and her character are evidence of how cinema is giving more power to women. However, this sensibility is yet to percolate to mass entertainers. There are still certain dialogues or lyrics of a song that objectify women and demean them in multiple ways. And these are later used as comments to eve-tease. Rani looks at it in two different ways and explains, “Mardaani 2 is a thriller, where through an interesting and intense story, we bring out a strong message. We, as filmmakers, have chosen that path. But we should also never forget that ours is an entertaining medium, which has to explore different formats. And at the end of the day, a film always mirrors the society. At the same time, we need to be cautious that as creative people, we have been given the freedom of expression. Having said that, we may make an error of judgement. Adult humour is one thing, vulgarity quite the other. And this is where the censor board comes in.”
Here, she demands a responsible attitude from the viewers’ end too to follow the censor rating and not make their children watch content that might not be suitable for them. “Don’t you think that as adults, they are capable of understanding what knowledge they should take back and what they shouldn’t?” she questions and highlights that some films are also meant only for entertainment, which might not have a social message. She adds, “What if I do a role where I explore a negative trait tomorrow? It doesn’t mean I am trying to inspire my fans to be in that negative zone. I am just doing it because I feel connected to that role. We also need to look at each actor for the reason for which they have chosen to do a particular film. And not generalise it.”
Rani’s films like Mehendi, Black, No One Killed Jessica, Hichki and Mardaani series are some examples of how she has always been upfront about certain issues and stereotypes about women in society. “Being a woman, I understand when somebody says she had never been taught or told to be strong. I understand where she is coming from. And then I also understand when a woman says that aisa kuch bhi hua toh I am going to just slap that guy and kick him. Ek maaru pakad ke,” she says, animatedly. She thinks it is high time that we make women believe that they are as strong and powerful as men.
Now that she is in a settled space, is Rani going only for content-driven films? Not really. “I choose my films very spontaneously. Mardaani happened after the Nirbhaya case. Hichki happened at a time when I just delivered my child. My baby was about a year old and I was really emotional and vulnerable. I wanted to do a film on a subject that made me want to leave my home and go to work because it was difficult to leave my child behind. Hadn’t Hichki happened, I don’t think I could have returned on screen. It looked at the teacher-student relationship, which I feel strongly about. Because I feel that no child should be pushed to isolation. We cannot tell a child to be good at all subjects and expect him to excel in that. Every child has his strength and weakness.”
Nobody can imagine Rani’s Tina, Kajol’s Anjali and SRK’s Rahul in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) being portrayed by any other actor. Because the three were so beautifully and powerfully etched in the narrative. Today, even though films have a stronger narrative and a sense of realism, the characters seem to be losing their individuality. Rani disagrees. “I think it depends on the filmmakers the most. We have to view/review the film in isolation for this because there are times when you like an actor so much that you cannot imagine anybody else in that particular role. That is also the kind of love you have for a particular actor. And in some cases, probably the actor is not that good in his or her portrayal of the character so one may feel that s/he could be replaced,” she says, picking up her coffee mug. For her, it’s still about solid fundamentals and all in a day’s work.
Photo: Pankaj Kumar