Review of Pink (2016) by Soumyaa P — 16 Sep 2016

The Incident - Common.

The Expectation - Normal.

The Treatment - Delicate.

The Verdict - Powerful.

The Afterthought - Impactful.

This sums up the review for the movie - PINK starring Amitabh Bachchan and several young actors including Taapsee Pannu and Kirti Kulhari. The actors mattered, their emotions swayed us, they excelled in their character buildup, they cared for the movie and it showed.

The thing that stuck with me since the start of the movie is the "natural" acting that you see often in Hollywood movies but is a rarity in Indian movies (obviously barring few recent movies). The actors who impressed the most in order: Kirti Kulhari aka Falak in her portrayal of a calm, gentle, brave and protective friend. Taapsee Pannu aka Minal in her rendering of the victim - caring, funny, aggressive yet vulnerable.

The movie works because of 3 things:

1. Amitabh Bachchan (Cannot think of anyone else who could have replaced him - not even Naseeruddin Shah, and how I love that man!). After Piku, one more masterpiece from Big B and a tad better. Soorjit Sarcar(Creative Producer) brings out a spark in him for sure. He pours out the emotions and the delivery minus the arrogance. His acting prowess is increasing with age just like a vintage wine. Brilliant!!

2. Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury's direction. Why? Because we watched the movie at 12 AM and did not yawn once. The movie managed to engage the audience throughout. The first half had a sense of a thriller while the second half was a courtroom drama. Good balance.

3. Editing and screenplay by Bodhaditya Banerjee and Ritesh Shah. It was easy to be distracted from a movie with no action, no overdose of big stars, no extravagant songs or that Arijit Singh's one mandatory song but the crisp dialogues and beautiful editing did the job exceedingly well.

The courtroom drama started as the battle of unequals. Piyush Mishra (the prosecutor) might be a terrific actor but this time he played the rhetoric and looked destined for failure right from the beginning.

Few scenes were short but beautiful like the one where Minal covers her face when someone in the park recognizes her from the news and AB immediately pulls back the hood from her face. NO NEED TO HIDE. The message in this movie was LOUD and clear. The patriarchal society needs to change its age old thinking that women were born to serve the men and any deviation from the "normal" should be disciplined. A movie in the right direction for the empowerment of Women hence the apt name - PINK.

The heart touching song Kari Kari sung by Qurat Ul Ain Balouch is brilliantly weaved with the movie.

Rating: 4/5.

P.S: DO NOT leave the hall without listening to the poem/Nazm at the end of the movie. These brilliant words summarizes the movie and demands respect for the lost art of true lyricists. Salute to poet and lyricist -Tanveer Ghazi.

The Poem made unforgettable by the iconic voice of Amitabh Bachchan (read: gooseflesh):

Tu Khud ki Khoj Mein Nikal || Tu Kis Ke liye Hataash Hai.