Highlights:
FILMMAKER Meghna Gulzar said she wanted to explore the differing reactions within the police, law and public to crimes against women in her new film, Daayra.
Starring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran in the lead roles, the story unfolds in the aftermath of a crime that grips the nation, sparking widespread outrage.
“What Daayra tries to do is explore the greys, because everything is not black and white. What may be justice for you, may be injustice for me, it depends on which side of the line we are standing on,” Meghna said.
The film, in that sense, leans closer to the procedural tone of her 2015 investigative drama Talvar, which was loosely based on the 2008 double murder of a teenage girl and the family help in Noida, near Delhi.
Meghna said the Daayra plot was an amalgamation of several real-life incidents from across India. “Daayra is not based in a particular city… it’s completely region neutral. The characters are region neutral, because this is not the success or the failure of a particular police force of a particular state,” she said.
However, adapting real-life incidents into fiction was not easy, Meghna said, adding that it required a careful balance between cinematic storytelling and a sense of responsibility.
“The cinematic liberty we have taken is maybe a bit from here, a bit from there. But we’ve never ever ‘tadkaoed’ (spiced it up) it or fictionalised it to creative liberty extent.
“For example, my criminal’s motivation could be the motivation of criminals from three different cases, and not just one. My public reaction or the reaction of law enforcement could be from two different cases and not just one.
“But is it fictional? Did I create that reaction? No, that’s the difference.” Kareena and Prithviraj, known predominantly for his roles in Malayalam cinema, were brought together for Daayra.
