Anubhav Sinha’s Thappad has been receiving praise from all quarters for Taapsee Pannu’s performance and for the writing of the film. On the latest episode of ‘OffScreen’, we spoke to Mrunmayee Lagoo, who made her screenwriting debut with the film about co-writing with Anubhav Sinha, why ‘one slap’ was an essential plot point and what she would do had she been in the same situation.
When asked if she grappled with the fact that one slap might not seem like a big enough conflict for people she said, “You know to raise your voice at that first instance is very important. It is just reassuring for those people who are still in it over and over again. So, I didn’t grapple with one or two or three, what we really grappled with is how to make this slap feel like a metaphor and a catalyst to something bigger.”
She added, “In fact after when sir thought of the idea and when I wrote the entire first draft, there were many people who said, “Sir we still think that this is wrong, that why she is leaving, they should make up, she should forgive, he should say this”. But see the first draft is the first draft, it doesn’t mean anything it’s just whatever conversations are happening are now on paper. So, we took all of that feedback, we went back and rewrote, rewrote, rewrote. But after they saw the film, I mean I am not even exaggerating, those same people came and told us that it’s a good thing that “it’s good all of you did this, we completely agree.”
Mrunmayee also spoke about writing key scenes of the film, being influenced by her parents Vivek and Reema Lagoo and why acting came more naturally to her than acting.
Producer: Nandakumar Rammohan
Editor: Veeru Krishan Mohan
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)