Director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat says he wanted his latest film “Apurva” to be a cautionary tale for those who consider women “the weakest link” of society.
To drive the message home, the writer-filmmaker said he conceived the Chambal-set story as a thriller as he believes the genre is consumed a lot by the audience.
Starring Tara Sutaria in the title role, “Apurva” is the story of an ordinary woman who faces extraordinary circumstances and will do anything to survive. The film also features Abhishek Banerjee, Rajpal Yadav, and Dhairya Karwa.
“In a film like ‘Apurva’, our society is very misogynistic. What I wanted to tell (with this film) is that ‘Don’t think women are the weakest link’. Don’t treat them like that because you never know if a woman rises you’re in for trouble.
“If that message needs to be told in a way that’s acceptable that’s why it’s a thriller because it’s (a genre) that you consume a lot. That’s the kind of films which I want to say,” Bhat told PTI in an interview here.
The filmmaker, whose another thriller “Kill” received rave reviews at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), said he wrote the script for “Apurva” back in 2009.
“To put a girl-next-door in this situation and give that option that you can fight back is extremely important as a message with a lot of entertainment. It is intense but there’s a lot of entertainment, banter with Rajpal sir, Abhishek, Sumeet and Aditya, the four of them are there which makes it interesting as a film,” he added.
Bhat, also known for films such as “Brij Mohan Amar Rahe”, “Hurdang” as well as web series “Rasbhari” and “The Gone Game”, said he is currently concentrating on “Apurva” and “Kill”.
“I’ve done different kinds of genres… I don’t know what I’m going to do after this. I would say that I have not tasted blood yet,” he said.
Yadav, who plays one of the antagonists in “Apurva”, said it’s easy to play a character that’s “fully negative or fully comic”.
“The kind of character Nikhil ji has given us, it gets difficult. Life is like that. What you want to do, what situation you are in, what is happening or not happening according to you. You can’t accept it or get out of it. These characters may appear simple on the surface but you have to take care of a lot of things while playing them,” he said.
The actor said his character should not get any sympathy from the audience. “All characters in this film are designed from Apurva’s point of view. It’s easy to carry a character when it’s one shade. When it comes to 3D characters, you learn as an actor and you get to see the director’s interpretation.
