Underlining women through films is not my forte: Avinash Das

Director Avinash Das, who received critical acclaim for his film "Anaarkali of Aarah" earlier this year, said on Thursday he doesn't like how women-oriented films underline the gender as it's not something that he does in his movies.

"When I was making 'Anaarkali of Aarah', I didn't think that I want to tell a women-oriented film. It was a simple story. Underlining women through films is not my forte," Das said here on Thursday at non-profit organisation Oxfam India's panel discussion, titled "Influence of Films on Gender Norms".

"It's not good to target a gender and create issues with them. Women are used to live in such type of an environment. When I thought about the story of 'Anaarkali of Aarah', I thought like telling my own story and not just a 'female'," he added.

Das was joined by director Alankrita Shrivastava, Jolie Carey, Programme Development Officer with USAID/India and Nisha Agrawal, CEO, Oxfam India.

The panel discussion was followed by a special screening of Shrivastava's new film "Lipstick Under My Burkha".

Citing the example of writer Apurva Asrani, who earlier this year expressed disappointment over social media for giving co-writer credit to actress Kangana Ranaut for "Simran", Das said: "Being a director, you might feel bad when an actress tries to add her personal ideas to the story, but from women's perspective it's creating an influence on the industry.

"What women is thinking -- that somehow will come in your story. Personally, I love women so, I cannot tell my story without their help. When I see men, I don't see any interesting fact in their lives," he added.