Pankaj Kapur says it is ‘ridiculous’ that Bheed is called anti-India movie: ‘One teaser and you say it’s a political film?’

A section of people on the internet felt the teaser of Bheed attempted to sensationalise the crisis with its deliberate reminder of the traumatic partition and was showing India in a poor light. Twitter was quick to dub the film ‘anti-India’, suggesting the movie was mounted with vested interest.

In an interview with indianexpress.com, Pankaj Kapur wondered why were people jumping the gun even before having watched the film, which is scheduled to release on March 24.

The actor said, “You must realise that in our society, which is what you’ll also see in our film, that before a drop of rain happens, people will announce monsoons. We are so impatient and opinionated. Instead of being patient and saying, ‘Ok, let’s reflect upon what is happening’, we jump the gun. You can opine, but first watch the film?”

Kapur said the current situation is like a joke in the 80s that he’d hear a lot: even before the child is born, parents fight if the child should be a doctor or an engineer. The actor, who teams up with Anubhav Sinha for Bheed after his 2005 hit Dus, says their latest project is not a political film.

“It’s ridiculous that one small teaser… And you start saying it’s a political film. It’s an analytical film that talks about the mindset of our society, how we think, how we reflect to a given situation! Very few films have shown authorities in a positive sense, the way this film has shown.”

When pointed out that a section of people felt Bheed attempts to show the very authority in a negative light and hence had called it anti-national, Kapur said those people “have no idea” what they’re talking about.

 

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“They should watch the film first to understand what it’s talking about. Anubhav has come up with a fine balance. He has chosen an instance and built a story around it. It’s not saying good, bad or ugly. It’s just showing you that this is how our minds work.”

In Bheed—which was shot in black and white—Pankaj Kapur plays a watchman, who is displaced overnight after the lockdown is announced. In a telling scene from the film’s trailer, his character refuses to take food from Muslim men, accusing them of spreading “Corona Jihad”— a term which gained prominence during the Tablighi Jamat controversy.

When asked about the dialogue, Kapur said, “Once you see the film, you’ll realise it has been dealt with differently. He (Sinha) has used this now as a thought that did exist, but there’s also another thought that’s been incorporated in the film. Which when you’ll see will make you realise that human beings, at the end of the day, are all the same,” he added.

Bheed also stars Rajkummar Rao, Bhumi Pednekar, Dia Mirza, Ashutosh Rana, Kritika Kamra and Kumud Mishra.