‘When women tell their own stories, they’ll be more authentic’: Indian director Anu Menon on the importance of women telling women’s stories

When one thinks of the Hindi film industry, whodunits and murder mysteries do not really come to mind. However, the genre, largely unexplored, has a lot to offer to both the audiences and the filmmaker, believes Anu Menon, who’s Hindi language mystery film recently hit the theatres. Menon, who began her career as a director with the critically acclaimed film London, Paris, New York in 2012, garnered mainstream recognition in 2020 for directing the biographical drama Shakuntala Devi with Vidya Balan playing the titular character. Reuniting with the Shakuntala Devi actor, the director has now brought together a unique mix of actors for the ensemble cast, including Ram Kapoor, Neeraj Kabi, Prajakta Koli, Rahul Bose, Shahana Goswami, among others. In a conversation with wknd., Menon talks about her latest directorial venture Neeyat, her reactions to the comparisons being drawn with other whodunits and why this genre remains largely unexplored in mainstream Indian cinema.

Edited excerpts from an interview:

Why did you choose to tell this story?

I live in London, where it’s a really popular genre. In fact, I have grown up being a fan of this genre, watching all these whodunits, reading all kinds of famous books. Every Christmas, there’s a big whodunit that happens here. So, all that stayed with me. That’s how it started.

The film has a distinct texture. What inspired you to create the universe within this film?

London has always been perceived as a playground for rich Indians. Everyone comes to London to party. What if one of these guys had a party? Who would their friends be? What would happen? A while ago, I was in Scotland, when someone was telling me that many of the Scottish castles are now owned by Indians, Arabs and Chinese, which I thought was quite interesting. So, that was the genesis for this. Also, I love Scotland, I think it inherently lends itself to this sort of setup. It’s beautiful, but it’s also quite intimidating. It has a surreal quality to it, which we wanted for the film. There’s humour and mystery in it. There are all kinds of things happening, so we tried to showcase that. And whodunits always have that self-awareness. The genre doesn’t take itself very seriously. You play with the audience a bit. It’s a dish you make with specific ingredients, but you give it your own unique spin.

As you mentioned, whodunits have specific tropes that need to be kept in mind. As in the case of Neeyat, netizens have been drawing comparisons with Glass Onion (2022), Knives Out (2019) and other murder mysteries. How do you respond to that?

I wish there wouldn’t be these comparisons, but I do believe that people find it easier to put things in certain boxes and categories so they can make sense of it. It’s human nature. Especially in today’s world with social media and the Internet, people are so quick to pass judgment. Knives Out is not a genre in itself, it’s a classic from the murder mystery genre. Similarly, Neeyat is an original story in that genre. But obviously, these are recent examples, so there will be comparisons. However, the comparison with Glass Onion is amusing because we finished shooting in June and Glass Onion came out in December, so unless I stole the script from Rian Johnson’s house before he released it, we couldn’t have copied it. What I’d like to add, though, is that if you like Knives Out, Agatha Christie, then you will love this film.

Do you think people have become more reactionary in the age of social media?

Yeah, and it’s a problem because nothing is factual. It’s easy to very confidently declare certain things without getting the facts right. But with the brickbats comes the love as well. The love you receive through social media can be overwhelming, so if you want that, you will have to live with this. There will always be those people who are quick to make assumptions, you can’t combat that. You never react to these kinds of discussions because the minute you do that, it’s like feeding the beast. It’s best to let things take their own course.

You’ve got an interesting mix of actors as part of the ensemble cast for the film. On one end, you have Vidya Balan, who’s a mainstream Bollywood star, then you have the YouTube star Prajakta Koli. Was this a conscious decision?

Yes, we needed to bring these different sets of people together to add a certain freshness to it. You don’t just want to pluck from the same tree. There has to be a certain unexpectedness, that’s when you know it’s good casting. For instance, we’ve never seen Prajakta and Neeraj Kabi on screen together. But it was important for us to let each of them have their own space in the film.

Do you see this crossover from YouTube to mainstream cinema becoming a trend?

Anything can happen. We are in a day and age where everything is merging in such weird ways. Suddenly, we’re going back to the good old way of telling stories, getting into nostalgia. On the other end, there’s a giant like YouTube, which is a beast of its own. It’s like a multiverse, which we can’t make sense of at this point.

Lastly, with Shakuntala Devi and now, Neeyat, you’ve been invested in telling women’s stories or backing women-led narratives. What, according to you, is the greatest advantage of women telling women’s stories?

When a person talks about their lived experiences, it’s more authentic. It doesn’t have that layer of projection or the male gaze. So, that’s what it is. But that is true for anything, when racial minorities tell their own stories, they’ll be more authentic. It’s without that added layer of pretentiousness, it’s more humanised. That’s why when women tell women’s stories, it just feels more refreshing because they’re viewed as people, not just linear identities.

somya@khaleejtimes.com