Kiran Rao says when big movies with ‘regressive messaging’ make hundreds of crores: ‘It hurts’

She continued, “So much has changed in terms of the market; the audience has so many options, and you’re reaching for all kinds of attention when you’re making a film. I suppose when it’s really regressive sort of messaging, and it makes hundreds of crores, it hurts. Because you had the opportunity to push the needle in some direction and you didn’t. Those are the things that sometimes bother me. Having said that, every filmmaker has their goals.”

It would be really nice, Kiran said, if the big films that do so well at the box office, were also doing ‘the important work’ of spreading progressive messages. She described this as, “Building our society in a more positive way, not stereotyping people, in fact, breaking some of those regressive ideas down and in some way opening up conversations. Or at least, (offer) more sensitive portrayals.”

In an interview with the Free Press Journal some days ago, Naseeruddin Shah condemned movies like The Kerala Story, The Kashmir Files and Gadar 2 for their ‘jingoism’, and said that their success could cause harm. “Films like Kerala Story and Gadar 2, I haven’t seen them but I know what they are about. It’s disturbing that films like Kashmir Files are so massively popular whereas movies made by Sudhir Mishra, Anubhav Sinha, and Hansal Mehta, who are trying to portray the truth of their times don’t get seen,” he said. Gadar 2 director Anil Sharma and Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri have both reacted to Naseer’s remarks. Kiran is currently at the Toronto International Film Festival for the premiere of her new film, Laapataa Ladies.