Pink

About the film

Pink is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language legal thriller film directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and written by Shoojit Sircar, Ritesh Shah and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury. The film is produced by Rising Sun Films on a total budget of ₹30 crore, with screenplay by Shah and music composition by Shantanu Moitra and Anupam Roy. Pink features an ensemble cast, which includes Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Andrea Tariang, Angad Bedi, Tushar Pandey, Piyush Mishra, and Dhritiman Chatterjee.

Pink was released worldwide in cinemas on 16 September 2016. The film received widespread critical acclaim for the cast performances, execution, story, screenplay and direction. Pink emerged as a surprising commercial success earning over ₹157.32 crore globally. The film completed a 50-day run theatrically.

Plot

Minal, Falak and Andrea are introduced to Rajveer and Raunak by their mutual friend Vishwajyoti on a night out, and they have some drinks together. Suddenly, the men rush to the nearest hospital because Rajveer is bleeding from a heavy injury to his head. At the same time, the women return to their home in a taxi. They look shaken, and it is implied that they have something to do with the incident.

The three women share an apartment in New Delhi. They try to move on from what happened that night. During Minal's morning run, she is observed by an older man in her neighbourhood, Deepak, who senses there is something wrong. Threats arise from Rajveer's friend Ankit towards the women's landlord and the women themselves, as he is pushing for revenge for the injury that Minal caused Rajveer—the head injury he sustained. The threats include a sexually explicit troll post on social media, resulting in Falak losing her job as it would impact the image of her company. The women are discouraged from filing a complaint, being told it would make their daily lives more miserable. In reality, the local police are aware that the men are "well-connected" and backed by Rajveer's uncle Ranjit, an influential politician. With the help of her boss at work, Minal goes to a higher-standing police officer and files a complaint.

The next day, Minal is kidnapped by Rajveer's friends during her morning run. Deepak witnesses the abduction but is unable to help. Minal is threatened, blackmailed, and molested by the trio in a moving car and dropped back home in the evening, leaving her traumatized. A few days later, she is arrested based on a complaint from Rajveer labeling the women as prostitutes and charging Minal with attempted murder. At this point, Deepak becomes frustrated with the events and, after receiving advice from him, Andrea and Falak discover that he is actually a reputable and retired lawyer. He helps Falak and Andrea with the bail procedures and decides to represent Minal in court.

Production

In early March 2016 Amitabh Bachchan revealed that he was shooting a film in Delhi. It was rumoured that the film was titled "Eve". On 13 March Bachchan denied the rumours and announced through Twitter that the film is titled Pink.

Director-producer Shoojit Sircar informed that Amitabh Bachchan accepted the role and Taapsee Pannu was their first choice. Andrea Tariang was also selected to play the role of one of the girls in the film. Tushar Pandey, Raashul Tandon and Arjun Chakraborty are making their debut with this film.

The principal photography of the film began in New Delhi on International Women's Day, 2016. The looks of Amitabh Bachchan in the movie was created by Shoojit Sircar however the idea of wearing the mask was suggested by Amitabh Bachchan since Delhi is very polluted.

Release

The film was specially screened for the Rajasthan Police so as to train them to be sensitive and sensible about women's rights and dignity. The film was also specially screened at Rashtrapati Bhavan and invited for a screening at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 13 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.1/10.

Meena Iye of The Times of India and Shubha Shetty Saha of Indiatimes gave the film 4.5 stars. Mayank Shekhar from Mid-Day gave the film 4/5 stars, saying, "The film, up until the closing credits, does not even visually describe the said incident. It grips you still with a gently piercing background score, moments of silence and dialogue, building up the tension, while the audience wonders what really could have happened one unfortunate night when three girls found themselves in a Surajkund resort with three guys."

Anna M.M. Vetticad of Firstpost called Pink a powerful film. Filmfare, India Today, Mumbai Mirror, Hindustan Times, The Statesman, and DNA have given 4/5 stars, highly appreciating the superlative performances, especially of Amitabh Bachchan. Critics like Anusha Iyengar and Mayank Shekhar called it movie of the year. Namrata Joshi of The Hindu also praised the film. Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express gave the film 3.5 stars.

Box office

Pink grossed approximately ₹4.32 crore on first day in India. The first weekend collection was ₹21.51 crore.

At the end of 7 days the domestic box office collection was ₹35.91 crore. Pink grossed ₹50 crore in first 10 days in India.

Key details