Crime to assume audience isn't ready: Prithviraj on films on violence against women

In an era where mainstream cinema often shies away from uncomfortable societal truths, director Meghna Gulzar and actor Prithviraj Sukumaran have confronted the complex discourse surrounding crimes against women and extrajudicial killings in their film Daayra. Speaking in an exclusive interview with India Today senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, the duo addressed the ethical dilemmas central to the narrative, while firmly rejecting the notion that Indian audiences are unready for cinema that wrestles with dark, realistic issues.

Reflecting on whether moviegoers are prepared to engage with topics like violence against women, rape survivors and extra-judicial killings, Prithviraj emphasised that filmmakers should refrain from pre-judging public appetite. "The biggest crime as filmmakers we do is to decide our audience is not ready," the actor noted, asserting that the public should be trusted to evaluate complex stories when presented with authentic filmmaking.

Discussing the public clamour for instant justice in gangrape cases, Prithviraj admitted he felt comfortable playing a controversial police officer who short-circuits the law because the character reflects a stark societal dilemma. Acknowledging the moral ambiguity of his role, he said, "Do I agree with Raman in his entirety? I do not. But the problem is that I do not disagree with Raman in his entirety as well. And that dichotomy is where the film exists."

The actor observed that India's overburdened judicial system, facing "something in the tune of 6 crore cases", feeds public frustration over delayed justice. "More than playing a character, I'm playing an argument in the film. I'm playing a perspective," he added.

Detailing the real-world foundation of Daayra, Meghna Gulzar revealed that the narrative stemmed from four years of intensive groundwork. "Between 2020 and 2024, we researched on different rapes, encounters, gangrapes, serial rapes, violence against women—just to see similarities and threads that are running through," she said.

Denying that the film promotes vigilante justice, she said, "I don't believe that we need to become a banana republic and that our police should become trigger happy." However, pointing out that public commentary on recent rape cases overwhelmingly demands extreme measures — such as "shoot, castrate, kill, hang, public lynching, encounter"— she stressed the need to confront these complexities.

"We think we live in a black and white world. I believe that there are grays that we live in. And the sooner we acknowledge them and navigate them, the better it will be for us as a society," the Daayra director added.

Gulzar also revealed that her father, veteran writer and lyricist Gulzar, watched the film while writing its final two songs. She shared that he "loved the dignity of the two sequences in the film" and praised how the narrative avoids stereotypes, noting that the "action and policemen are not cliches, they are all real and human."

Addressing the broader landscape of Indian cinema, Prithviraj dismissed rigid industry labels arguing that authentic storytelling is not restricted to any regional boundary. "I don't completely believe that Malayalam only makes authentic films. We also have over-the-top films," he said, adding that "language is no longer an issue." Pointing to his upcoming projects, including director SS Rajamouli's Varanasi alongside Mahesh Babu and Priyanka Chopra, the actor concluded, "Where you are from no longer matters."

Daayra also features actors Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jitendra Joshi, Kanwaljit Singh and Biswapati Sarkar in key roles.