The Director of “Atrangi Re” and “Ranjhana” recently spoke about the criticism his films faced regarding the portrayal of mental health issues, in an interview. His film was met with mixed feedback; although the film delivered emotion. As per the critics and audience, the film could have dealt with mental health better. However, as Rai insists, love is depicted as the solution to all the conflicts, which define the movie’s premise. In his defence, Aanand L Rai said he never intended to make fun of mental illness or advocate for stalking. He was then asked about the moral rights of a director in an interview with Showsha in which he unfolded his stand.
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He said, “I feel every director, every filmmaker, has to abide by this. But when I say this, please understand that when you pick a story, such as Atrangi Re, you must trust the maker’s intention. When he is talking about mental illness in a film like Atrangi Re. It can’t be a film on mental illness because it is not that. But, as a maker, you have to understand…”
“When I am getting on the floor, I go with those positive intentions of capturing something for the story and to entertain my audience without making fun of a mental illness. It is not that. You have to believe the intention of the maker. That is required,” he said. In the next question, he spoke about his 2013 romantic movie ‘Raanjhanaa’ which starred Sonam Kapoor and Dhanush.
Although such scenes were funny and the film proved to be popular among viewers, some people considered the film promoted stalking. On this, the filmmaker said, “So, yes, we have to be very careful and feel responsible for whatever we are doing, but that should be proportionate to the intention of the maker rather than picking up a subject and say, ‘Oh, Ranjhanaa was all about stalking’. It was not. It was not about stalking for me at all, otherwise I would have treated it in a very different way. The best way to measure this is the audience’s reaction. They would have said, that it is about stalking. They said it is about love because, I think, people closest to the maker are the audience. If they didn’t like Zero, they didn’t like Zero and I accept it, and I learn from it.”
The director, however, agreed that when he narrates a story about mental illness in future he will “deal with it differently.” Hence, Aanand L Rai concludes that a filmmaker has his intentions and it is better for the audience to understand the director’s motive than assuming themes. Although admitting that success and, therefore, responsibility rests with the directors, he underlines that the audience’s responses are undisputed evidence of a movie’s effectiveness and its overweening message.
“Atrangi Re“ is a romantic-musical-drama film directed by Aanand L. Rai and it also caused a lot of hype for portraying mental health issues. Directed by Ayan Mukerji and written by Rai’s favourite screenwriter Himanshu Sharma the film stars Saara Ali Khan, and Dhanush with a cameo by Akshay Kumar.
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Set in Gujarat, the plot revolves around Rinku Sooryavanshi, portrayed by Sara Ali Khan who is a mature woman in her parents’ death incident that occurred in her tender age. Rinku’s character is the daughter of interreligious parents, and her sorrow is illustrated by the love triangle filled with components of realism and fiction.
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