Shoojit Sircar on 10 Years of Pink: ‘A lot of suggestions came from Mr Bachchan’ (Exclusive)

Shoojit Sircar served as the co-writer and creative producer for the critically acclaimed 2016 Hindi-language legal thriller “Pink.” As a creative producer under his banner, Rising Sun Films, he took a hands-on approach across all departments—even calling himself an “interfering producer”—to ensure the production met his signature cinematic standards. Sircar, whose directorial credits include modern classics such as “Vicky Donor,” “October” and “Piku,” personally pitched the high-stakes concept to Amitabh Bachchan, who agreed to join the film within five minutes of hearing it. The film stars an ensemble cast including Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari and Andrea Tariang. It follows three young women navigating a rigged legal system after fighting off an attempted sexual assault by a well-connected group of men. Pink became a massive cultural milestone, popularising the defining social phrase “No means no.” It went on to win the National Film Award and was highly successful at the box office.

‘Pink,’ considered your most impactful film, clocks in at 10 years. How do you look back on making the movie?

Ten years of Pink! It doesn’t feel that long ago. A lot of things are quite fresh in my head. To start with, I would say that my involvement, especially my focus on the film, began when, unexpectedly, Mr. Bachchan agreed to be part of the film. This completely changed the profile of the project.

How was your rapport with the girls?

While we were shooting in Delhi, the court sequence was to be shot in Mumbai a month later...   Taapsee, Kirti, Andrea and I would sit and do the interrogation scene very spontaneously. We’d pick points from what these actresses had gone through in real-life situations, quite openly on a dining table. We kept on noting them down.

At what point did the 'no means no' happen?

I think that penny-drop moment happened when, one day, while discussing this, I said that what we play with no is purely no. I thought of playing around with this concept in the script. We all agreed, and that’s when we started getting a grip on the script. We walked straight from there to the office, sat down with the script, and somehow managed to crack the first part of the film in the next month.

What did Amitabh Bachchan think of your idea?

We kept on meeting Mr. Bachchan. Whatever you see or hear in the film is because of those discussions. I remember he was at the Kolkata Grand Hotel, shooting for another film, and after the shoot we’d meet him at the hotel and discuss. He would read poetry, and we would listen; he would give certain ideas, etc.

The entire project changed once Bachchan agreed, right?

I told Ronnie Lahiri (Producer), Ritesh Shah (writer), and Aniruddha Roy Chaudhury that Mr. Bachchan had agreed. And at that time, the script wasn’t ready. Some thoughts were there, but not on paper. Then it was like suddenly a cloudburst happened because I had a responsibility towards Mr. Bachchan. He really liked the idea, but I didn’t have a proper script for him. By then, somehow Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang, Vijay Verma, Angad Bedi, Tushar Pandey, Piyush Mishra, and Mamata Shankar were cast. I felt that with such a great cast, we needed a very definite script to go with it.

What is your most vivid memory of the experience?

On the last day, we were wrapping, but we had to come back and shoot the court sequence, which was still not written. My writer, Ritesh Shah, said, “I will  stay here for a few days, and I’ll finish it.” Before that, he had shared a few scenes with me. I said, yes, this is going well, so let’s go with it. Then I think he stayed three or four extra days in Delhi, and he wrote that entire second half. He cracked that. Just what remained was the last scene that ‘No means no’; the challenge was how to crack that particular, without going over the top. 

How did you finally crack the no-means-no sequence?

We came back and sat down with Mr. Bachchan for a couple of sessions, and then we unanimously decided to go with a very matter-of-fact, normal “no means no.”

Would it be fair to say that the actors played a huge hand in the impact of ‘Pink?’

I think this entire thing happened because of this collaboration from all these actors, Mr. Bachchan, and everyone who came together for Pink—for example, the casting of Andrea, the girl from the Northeast, that came fromRonnie. In Delhi, it is very common that you’ll have a Northeast friend. When you have an idea and keep working on it, it somehow all comes together. And in this case, I would definitely give it to the cast, especially Mr. Bachchan, for discussing the script and coming up with some really potent ideas. One other person contributed immensely to Pink.

Who is that?

I think a lot of things came from our cinematographer, Abhikda Abhik Mukhopadhyay. He also acted almost like a scriptwriter on the film. His participation was immense. He worked with Rituparno Sengupta, Mrinal Sen, and many top directors in the country. He also came up with really good suggestions.