Monali Thakur and Nagesh Kukunoor try their hand at pool at Pipal Tree Hotel in New Town. Picture: B. Halder

It’s a film that’s been lauded the world over. This Friday, Lakshmi — the true story of a 14-year-old prostitute who testifies in court against those who have wronged her — releases at a plex near you. Director Nagesh Kukunoor, the man behind films like Iqbal and Hyderabad Blues, and singer-turned-actress Monali Thakur, who plays Lakshmi, were in Calcutta last week to promote their film. t2 caught up with them.

Nagesh, would you count Lakshmi as the most important film of your career?

Nagesh Kukunoor: From a social perspective, yes. I haven’t really made any issue-based film till Lakshmi. Whenever I make a film, I first need the story to draw me in. Before Lakshmi, I met with these women in a rescue shelter and I was so moved by their stories, I felt I needed to do something about it. But there are so many stories that move us emotionally on a daily basis and honestly, I didn’t know whether this would make a good film. That’s till I met the girl whose story is told in Lakshmi. Speaking to her, I got more and more sure and coincidentally, the climate of the country is such that everyone is up in arms about violence against women. So yes, I decided to make it and it is probably the most important film I have ever made.

What was the biggest challenge of making this film?

Nagesh: The challenge actually came before the film began. I had initially cast a 14-year-old in the title role, but I increasingly felt that I wasn’t doing the right thing because my film is about a young girl forced into prostitution and here I was, casting an impressionable mind in what would surely be a traumatic experience to bring on screen. I shelved the project, but six months later, I saw Monali at a party. I kept staring at her all evening and she got very uncomfortable wondering why I was doing so. But the truth is that I was trying to imagine her as Lakshmi and I felt I could. It was then that I approached her.

Monali, how did you react when Nagesh asked you to play a 14-year-old victim of human trafficking?

Monali Thakur: I was very surprised when he wanted to cast me and when I was told that I would have to play a 14-year-old victim of human trafficking, I was very shocked. I was also excited because such roles don’t come by every day. My energy for this film, despite all obstacles, has been very positive right from the beginning. Lakshmi is this everyday girl sucked into the flesh trade and she is a victim like so many girls, but then she exhibits courage in the way one wouldn’t have ever thought was possible. Nagesh: The film speaks about the courage of this girl. To go out publicly and take on the system and hold on even day after day of being demeaned, requires someone of exemplary grit and Lakshmi has that.

At any point did you feel that you wouldn’t be able to be Lakshmi?

Monali: I wasn’t apprehensive, even for a second, whether I should do the film or not. But when I started reading the script locked up in my room, I felt scared about whether I would end up overacting as a 14-year-old. But when we started, I felt relieved that mine and Sir’s (Nagesh) vision of Lakshmi was more or less the same.

What was the most difficult bit of being Lakshmi?

Monali: We were shooting non-stop and I gradually started living Lakshmi’s role. For me, it was very difficult to be comfortable with certain scenes. Although most of what is shown in the film is purely by suggestion, I did feel very awkward sometimes. Like there is a scene where Lakshmi tries to clean herself after she has been raped and that was very tough for me to enact. In the initial days, I went back home with Lakshmi’s character and that was pretty traumatic.

Nagesh: We shot the film in 22 days, the fastest I have shot a film since Hyderabad Blues (1998, 17 days). For that, I needed terrific actors who would deliver on the first or second take. It was a pressure-cooker situation in terms of our schedule and shoot, but we were determined to keep the atmosphere light.

What kind of research went into penning the script?

Nagesh: The bulk of the research came from the conversations I had with these women. I went to these brothels which are extremely dirty and that provided me with the visual reference that I needed. When you speak to them, you realise the hell they are in and the horror they have to go through on a daily basis. When you meet them so closely, you realise that things are not going to change in a hurry and that was my reason of making Lakshmi. Let’s be practical, the film isn’t aiming to bring about sweeping social change, but the effort is to put the spotlight on an issue that we hope will move people in the way it has moved us.

Nagesh, you also have a role in the film. But why a pimp?!

Nagesh: (Laughs) Actors always say that they see a little bit of themselves in every role, but let me assure you that I have no similarity with a pimp! (Laughs) It was nice to sink my teeth into a role that was so far from what I am because apart from Teen Deewarein, I have only played minor variations of myself.

The film’s created waves on the festival circuit, crowned by the audience prize at the Palm Springs festival in the US…

Nagesh: That was of course a very happy moment for us, but the coolest thing was that all the five Oscar-nominated films for Best Foreign Film played at Palm Springs and we still picked up the audience prize! Obviously, it touched a chord with the audience.

The censor board, however, objected to the film initially, forcing you to push back the release…

Nagesh: This time, honestly, the material was such that they were on our side. The problem was that it had to go through various levels, the Evaluation Committee, the Revising Committee and the Tribunal of the censor board and to get them all in one place was a task. I left for Palm Springs and we had to postpone the film from January to March. But that gave us two months to really push the film because this is a film that requires a lot of effort to get into public consciousness.

We have been showing the film in a lot of colleges. Also, to people in positions of power… anyone who can act as an influence. Even as we speak, there are screenings going on throughout the country. And then there’s Friday when the film releases.

Priyanka Roy
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