Is Anubhav Sinha Taking Sides Of One Particular Community In Rishi Kapoor And Taapsee Pannu’s Mulk?

Mulk is in news and for reasons more than one. If its acidic promo pretty much laid the foundation for things to come, the subsequent promotion by the film’s lead team of director Anubhav Sinha and actors Rishi Kapoor and Taapsee Pannu isn’t really seeing any words being minced.

“The film was always meant to be a hard hitting drama. However when you are referring to both the communities in such a strong manner, eyebrows are bound to be raised. So far the promo has laid down a few questions already, the most prominent one being – ‘Whose ‘mulk’ is it after all?’ It is pretty much the genesis of the court room drama that the film is,” says a close associate of the filmmaker.

However the real question is, how does a filmmaker go about doing his job when it comes to a subject as sensitive and volatile as this? Reason being that if he takes sides then he could well be termed as biased for one end and get targeted by the other end. On the other hand taking a neutral stand could well be termed as playing safe, which could well defeat the whole purpose of the story that is being told.

“Well, I am not surprised at this question coming my way,” says Anubhav Sinha, who has made quite a transition from making a superhero flick [Ra. One] to a dramatic affair like Mulk, “Let me share with you an anecdote that actually took place when we were shooting the film. It was an argument scene set in the court and my actors indulged in a volatile scene. Once it was through, I was ecstatic and couldn’t control my excitement due to the manner in which the scene had turned out to be.”

However, he was in for a shocker when his producer, who is a Hindu, and the consulting lawyer on the set, who is a Muslim, expressed their displeasure over the scene.

“Both of them said that I couldn’t keep that scene in the film since they felt it was too strong. Now my question to them was, how come they both were so much impacted by the scene,” wonders Anubhav, “This is when I knew that I was doing something right since the scene had managed to engage both the communities. I presented my argument around the relevance of the scene to both and today it features in the film as it is.”

If this particular incident is some indication about how Anubhav has approached the film then rest assured, there could well be many more surprises in the offering when Mulk releases all over this Friday.