That is probably the most pertinent way to describe Nagesh Kukunoor's forthcoming movie 'Lakshmi' that deals with issues of child trafficking and prostitution. The actor-director in a conversation with After Hrs.
If the movie trailer is anything to go by, Lakshmi is going to be a gut-wrenching movie that will leave you wrestling with emotions and ample food for thought. That the tale is inspired by true incidents makes the movie that much more potent. The idea for the story, according to the film’s director Nagesh Kukunoor, evolved during the course of his work with an NGO that is involved with rehabilitating young girls and women who’ve been victims of trafficking. “I’d been working for the NGO and when I got interacting with the girls, lots of stories started popping up. What was poignant about their tales, however, was the fact that they were not talking of the horrors of the lives they’d led. Instead they were heroic tales of surviving and overcoming the horrific past,” Kukunoor says before admitting thereon that while the “core story of the movie is real”, the script also has fictional tales that have been seamlessly woven in to flesh out the plot.
CASTING RIGHT
The movie marks the acting debut of singer Monali Thakur who plays the titular character. Quiz Kukunoor about his casting choice and he says, “The movie tells the story of a 14-year-old girl, all the same, I was very clear that I wouldn’t cast a 14-year-old in the role because I didn’t want to expose the child into this harsh world. Instead, I wanted to cast someone who was 18, or even better, 21, who could clearly pass off for a 14-year-old. That’s about the time I saw Monali at a party and I remember thinking, ‘This is the face I was looking for. That you could put pigtails on that face and pass her off as a 14-year-old girl.” A successful audition later, Kukunoor was convinced with Monali becoming his Lakshmi.
In another equally interesting casting option, the movie sees Kukunoor himself playing the dubious role of Chinna, a pimp. Describing the character as someone who is ‘vile and vicious but an idiot at the same time,” Kukunoor had a couple of simple reasons why he chose to take the role on. “For one, I had an idea of how I wanted the character to be portrayed. And another reason I chose to do this,” he wryly states, “is the fact that most Hindi actors tend to get the Hyderabadi or dakhni-style of speaking very wrong. They just don’t get it right, which is why I ended up doing the role.”
SPOTLIGHT ON GIRL POWER
A movie that’s entirely been shot in Hyderabad, Kukunoor reveals that research for the movie went beyond just visiting red light areas. “We did visit those areas but that kind of research is only surface research.” The bulk of the research, he avers “involved spending a lot of time with rescued and rehabilitated victims of trafficking. I wanted to know and understand what that world really is like, and so I got down to talking to young girls who’d spent their years in that world, and were ready and able to talk about it.”
Ask him why he felt the story really had to be told now, and Kukunoor testily retorts,”Why does one have to tell any story then?” However, not choosing to leave it at that, he adds, “I believe that if you are passionate about your story, then you should make it. The beauty of Lakshmi is the fact that it is a story of women who beat the odds and have come out stronger. I liked that aspect and decided to put a spotlight on it.”
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