A day after Madhur blogged on why he shelved Heroine, Anuraadha Tewari, the co-writer of the movie penned her thoughts on the whole 'Heroine' brouhaha. Here it goes.
I think this one has to be the non debate of the century . . . I mean I can't believe its become about gender discrimination . . . my first reaction was huh???? And that is from me . . . often 'accused' to be Feminist and accusation or not . . . often known for standing up for the right thing . . . and being as unbiased about things as one can . . . at least I try. And here's my thought . . . Dude, this is the VISUAL medium . . . unlike any other profession . . . this is work where writers and directors 'visualize' things and break their backs trying to make it all real or believable or both. Am not even harping on glamour . . . am just saying believable . . . and here's a simple fact . . . the character in 'Heroine' (since I have written it) CANNOT be pulled off by someone pregnant . . . it is as SIMPLE as that . . . forget the physical strain and emotional stress and all that jazz . . . we can keep debating that ad nauseum . . . it simply does NOT fit into THIS role. This is a strictly adult film with mature content (no its not po*n) . . . its just bold in the visual and mature in what its depicting.
Of course, people have gone on about it without knowing ANYTHING about the script . . . but surely knowing the kind of cinema the Director is known for . . . I can assure you . . . it is NOT nice . . . even for an informed audience member like me to see a pregnant woman . . . drink and smoke and snort coke and sleep with various people and what have you . . . I would cringe . . . seriously I would. Much like if I knew Mallaika was pregnant WHILE doing Munni Badnaam (not before and after) . . . or Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. Or Hema in Sholay as Basanti or Kareena in We Are Family while the other actress in both the Films (Jaya and Kajol) was pregnant . . . cause it didn't get in the way of their roles . . . simple.
It is about creative liberty and NOT about desirability in Motherhood that its suddenly been turned into. OF COURSE Mallaika is hot even now, post motherhood . . . most Hollywood actresses are . . . what's sex appeal got to do with Motherhood anyways??? Rani isn't considered hot without being married or a mother, Mallaika is hot with both . . . so??? Am just amazed that we have such short attention spans that anything that is said in a high pitch with authority becomes the truth . . . I mean really!!!
As for the contentious pregnancy clause . . . well, I am personally all for it. Because its a CLAUSE not a LAW . . . no one is saying that there soul be a law stating that no actress can ever be a Mother. It is a clause that may be needed in a certain Film . . . i think that should be left to the Producers as well as the actress . . . actors include clauses of their own (some of them would really kill you!) so why not one from the makers' side . . . the actress can REFUSE if she doesn't find it important or applicable . . . or offensive . . . or whatever . . . She has a Choice. But here is what the clause protects . . . not just the Producers' money but hey . . . the hard work of an ENTIRE unit . . . people seem to be forgetting that altogether!!! Like in the case of 'Heroine' . . . where because of the actress not fitting into the role anymore . . . the Film gets plugged and at least a 100 technicians find themselves jobless . . . all of us employed for the next 6 months (not writers but the others) are suddenly without work and NO MONEY!!! (Even writers are only paid about 50% before shoot). So the situation is not just responsible for the Makers . . . it is so for the ENTIRE unit . . . the true victims of the case.
Having said all of this, and in no mood to mud sling . . . and as the only woman on the team I must state that I am quite CONVINCED that the intention of the Actress was NOT to be unfair or dishonest. I personally think (and have said so earlier) she was genuinely warm and receptive and TRULY CARED for the script . . . however, my sense is that she was caught in a personal situation . . . a very tricky one at that . . . and so kept the truth from us . . . and perhaps hoped that it would all work out in the end . . . specially, since I have no doubts on her dedication and sincerity to the Film . . . my feeling is that it sort of got baldy handled from the announcement onwards . . . even after that things could have been sorted from both ends . . . and knowing the Director if sorted amicably, there is no DOUBT in my head that he would have waited for her to return. Alas . . .
What saddened and intensely angered me though were the planted stories thereafter (I must congratulate the PR though . . . its a great job done, seriously!) . . . to try and fudge and confuse the issue . . . and getting gender into it. But am over that now . . . past the anger and past the frustration of watching 4 months of hard work, sleepless nights and missing life . . . for a script DESIGNED for someone . . . to go down the drain overnight. Knowing that my market value itself will suffer because of a shelved project . . . I am done with that . . . and moved on . . . and let go . . .
In this business, and otherwise, the only thing one can be is being true to one's craft . . . and retain one's integrity . . . and keep up the passion o matter what . . . hopefully we have all done that . . . and now let go . . . knowing the Universe will do the right thing . . . do the needful. Like it always does. :)
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