Critics’ Verdict: ‘Pink’ Is Hard Hitting & a Must Watch

Here’s what critics think of Amitabh Bachchan starrer ‘Pink’.

Film: Pink
Director: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang, Angad Bedi, Piyush Mishra

Here are excerpts from what film critics have to say about Pink.

Where exactly do you place a film like this — in the annals of Hindi movies, for instance? For reference sake alone, I’d say, right next to Rajkumar Santoshi’s ‘Damini’. Which was such a powerfully moving movie that when a majority of young ones, who were probably not even born or were kids when that film hit theatres in 1993, were protesting on Delhi’s streets against a brutal bus rape in 2011, they called the survivor: ‘Damini’. Does this film leave a similar impact? Frankly, I’d say, at the cost sticking the precious neck out — even more. And why’s that? Quite simply, because the terrible incident described in this film could happen to absolutely anyone of us, or our loved ones. 

Mayank Shekhar (Mid-Day.com)

Some narrative points rankle though: Why didn’t the lawyer do anything when he witnessed one of the girls, who stays close by, being roughed up? Plus, the parents of the three girls are conspicuous by their indifference. On the upside, the ensemble acting crew is of the highest order. Taapsee Pannu shorn of glamour and newcomer Andrea Tariang are impressive, backed by a script which understands the exact nuances of their roles. Piyush Mishra as the diabolical Rajveer’s lawyer swashbuckles ably with Bachchan in court. And Kolkata’s Dhritiman Chatterjee as the judge is as lifelike as you can get in a superior-quality Bollywood product. The production design, punch-lines in the dialogue and the background music score (a forte of Shoojit Sircar enterprises) also exhibit a cutting edge. Moving at a tight and tension fraught pace, Pink serves as a slap on the face of the still-widespread misogyny and regressive values, be it in Delhi or any other metropolis. The result shakes up the complacent viewer, and is more than value for your ticket money.

Khalid Mohamed (Spotboye.com)

The first half is like a thriller, taut and tense, with the audience biting its nails out of concern for the girls’ safety as Rajveer (Angad Bedi) and his set of cronies are out to make life hell for them. All for nixing his advances and resisting his attempts at molestation. Ostensibly, it might be a film about three women (the gender and happiness quotient of a Dil Chahta Hai turned on its head) but besides their fears, frustrations, anger, helplessness and vulnerability, what we see most are the men around them, and their attitude towards women. There are all kinds in their universe: from the loving, caring landlord who won’t evict them despite threats from the nosy neighbour who suspects them of prostitution; an estranged boyfriend who says he can either be truthful or liberal (never helpful) and the severely entitled, deeply patriarchal and feudal boys; a cop (much like the ones I faced) who wants to deter them from filing a complaint and the lawyer who goes to any extent, asks intrusive questions and seeks intimate details, to humiliate them to save his clients. Even the biased Haryanvi woman cop is like a toy in the hands of the powerful men.

Namrata Joshi (TheHindu.com)

When she says no, it means only one thing. No grabbing. No forcing. Take that groping hand and mouth away. She isn’t easy. She isn’t a person of ‘loose morals’. She is not, never, ever, asking for it. That it has taken Bollywood to make a movie which says it so clearly, without beating about the bush, without prevaricating or using obfuscatory language, tells us a great deal about the country we live in, and the social mores that its women have had to live by, buried under crippling patriarchy and misogyny and a sense of mistaken shame. The only weak link in this film is the elderly lawyer played by Amitabh Bachchan. Deepak Sehgall, we are told, is suffering from bipolar disorder, which means mood swings, which means Bachchan alternating between chewing out dialogue and being growly and forced. He takes on the girls’ case, and we want to cheer because he is the Bachchan and will make everything come right. But because he is Bachchan, the director handles him with kid gloves, and there goes the naturalism with which everyone else is playing their parts so effectively.

Shubhra Gupta (IndianExpress.com)