Atrangi Re Director Aanand L Rai & Writer Himanshu Sharma Express Their Thoughts On The Criticism Received Over The Movie (Pic Credit: Instagram/aanandlrai)
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Aanand L Rai’s Atrangi Re starring Dhanush, Sara Ali Khan, and Akshay Kumar was one of the most anticipated movies of 2021 and has indeed stood up to the hype that it had created amongst the fans with its heart-touching story. After watching the movie, the fans can’t help but talk about the uniqueness and charm in the story, which was written by Himanshu Sharma.
However, when a film is out, along with praises it also receives some unwanted criticisms. The same is happening with this recent release, as some group of watchers is now criticizing the film for not doing justice to the mental health issues that the film’s character Rinku Sharma (played by Sara) had.
Talking about these criticisms, during his conversion with IndiaToday, Aanand L Rai said, “When we made this film, we were feeling fearless and we were enjoying ourselves. Nobody has touched this relationship, no one has ever spoken about it and we wanted to go for it. Today it has reached the audience and it actually matters. There has been a debate and that’s what we wanted.”
Adding to Aanand L Rai’s words, writer of Atrangi Re, Himanshu Sharma said, “It (mental health) is not the only thing that we thought of. There are many other things like love – a debate between perfection and imperfection, the totality of love, what is love. The kind of conflict that happens with what we expect in our partners vis-a-vis what real people are. We expect them to be the finest of the people, with the topmost quality, but real people are flawed. So there were multiple things that the film was trying to say.”
While calling out the criticisms the film received, Himanshu further said, “In the end, it’s a film and not a documentary. It is not a 500 word essay on mental illness, it is a film, it needs to entertain you. When we write a film, it has to maneuver its way to many of the issues that I spoke about, and at times certain things take a backseat, and other times it takes a forefront. Yes, the mental health issue is there but to me as a writer and for Aanand as a director, it was more of a sugar coating to say larger things. See the film for what it is and not for what you wanted. A large number of people saw that, they knew what the film was talking about and that is why we have got so much love.”
The director of the film also went on to admit that the negative criticisms the film is receiving aren’t affecting him at all.
What do you think about Aanand L Rai and Himanshu Sharma’s Atrangi Re, did you feel it didn’t do justice to the mental health topic? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
