Screenwriter Kanika Dhillon, whose new film “Haseen Dillruba” is out, has opened up about what draws her towards complex and grey characters. She says she does not understand straightlaced people in real or in reel life.
“We are all grey and complex in real life, and eccentric and funny, sometimes ridiculous. This is what spices up our lives. I wanted to capture that on screen in my characters because straightlaced people in real life or in reel life, I don’t understand them. There is nothing to unravel or understand to begin with. They are beautiful and complete, and when something is beautiful and complete there is nothing more that is left to do. You can just gaze at it from a distance,” she said.
Talking about the character of Rani, played by actress Taapsee Pannu in “Haseen Dillruba”, Kanika said: “Rani was a woman trying to negotiate an arranged marriage set-up and face the hiccups that a regular girl can come across, but her resolution for those at times are erratic and deviate from the good girl frame we are used to celebrating. She is open about her sexuality, which offends many people even today.”
The writer says she wanted to deliberately create a woman that could bring a different definition of feminism.
“She is flawed, and she pays a price for it. She is a mess, and in that chaos finally she finds a way out. But before that she has to go through an incredulous, almost unreal, journey that would question her instincts of self-preservation and how far was she going to go to seek redemption!”
She added: “I always knew Rani was going to rattle the self-proclaimed flagbearers of what a pro-feminist cinema should look like, but since I am making the film for my audience I am more excited to know what they thought of it. Rani as the agency of choice throughout — even in extreme — almost bordering on insane circumstances and she never lets go of that.”
