Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Giving a voice to the voiceless

ANUBHAV SINHA DISCUSSES HIS IMPORTANT NEW FILM THAPPAD

by ASJAD NAZIR


IN 2018, filmmaker Anubhav Sinha turned a major corner with critically acclaimed film Mulk, and followed that up with Article 15, which was arguably the finest Bollywood film of 2019.

The producer/director continues his run of message-driven films with his latest release Thappad, which is a powerful drama of a seemingly perfect marriage being shattered after the husband slaps his wife in public. Taapsee Pannu plays the lead role in a story that tackles a far wider issue and has another meaningful message.

Eastern Eye caught up with Anubhav Sinha to find out more about his brand of cinema and new film.

We named Article 15 as the best film of 2019, were you disappointed it wasn’t put forward for the Oscars?

Disappointed is a strong word. Yes, I would have been happier if Article 15 was nominated from India, but then these decisions are made by appointed committees and every committee can have a different view, besides the point that I love most of (Gully Boy director) Zoya’s (Akhtar) films.

With Article 15, Mulk and Thappad, has your outlook changed as a filmmaker?

They say so, and yes it does seem to have. Now, I get attracted to different things about making movies. I am no longer concerned about the hardware. I get a high with the software. I am no longer interested in the size of my film or the star that I am working with. I am more interested in the actor and human being who is as interested in the story that I want to tell.

What did you like about Thappad as a subject?

When I liked it and chose to make, it I did not analyse what was it that got me attracted to this film. But in hindsight, if you see, my recent three films are about the same thing, which is ‘discrimination that is normalised’.

What was the greatest challenge of making the movie?

That the movie is about nothing. I mean, it is like something that we don’t recognise as anything. It is just a slap and a first slap by a husband. It is like saying ‘make a film about a young man’s first cigarette’. You know smoking is bad, but you know people smoke, and all of them at some point had their first smoke, so what is the big deal about this? If you know what I mean? That was the biggest challenge.

You are now doing message driven films, what key message should people take from this film?

I am not trying to give any messages. I am no one to give messages. These are issues that bother me. These are issues that we don’t openly speak about. I am only trying to stoke a conversation here.

You are working again with Taapsee Pannu after Mulk. What do you like about her?

That she is hungry, excited and wants to make an impact. That she does not take her stardom too seriously or think about the money aspect.

What is your own favourite moment in the movie Thappad?

It would be the first scene after the interval.

Have you selected your next subject yet?

Yes, I am shooting one starting April this year.

Today, what inspires you as a filmmaker?

It is a lot of things. What is it that I want to say? Do I have a team, including the actor, that will inspire me to give my best and things like that.

Why should we watch Thappad?

I think you should watch it because this is my best film till date.

Thappad is in cinemas now

More For You

​Dilemmas of dating in a digital world

We are living faster than ever before

AMG

​Dilemmas of dating in a digital world

Shiveena Haque

Finding romance today feels like trying to align stars in a night sky that refuses to stay still

When was the last time you stumbled into a conversation that made your heart skip? Or exchanged a sweet beginning to a love story - organically, without the buffer of screens, swipes, or curated profiles? In 2025, those moments feel rarer, swallowed up by the quickening pace of life.

Keep ReadingShow less
Comment: Mahmood’s rise exposes Britain’s diversity paradox

Shabana Mahmood, US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, Canada’s public safety minister Gary Anandasangaree, Australia’s home affairs minister Tony Burke and New Zealand’s attorney general Judith Collins at the Five Eyes security alliance summit on Monday (8)

Comment: Mahmood’s rise exposes Britain’s diversity paradox

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer’s government is not working. That is the public verdict, one year in. So, he used his deputy Angela Rayner’s resignation to hit the reset button.

It signals a shift in his own theory of change. Starmer wanted his mission-led government to avoid frequent shuffles of his pack, so that ministers knew their briefs. Such a dramatic reshuffle shows that the prime minister has had enough of subject expertise for now, gambling instead that fresh eyes may bring bold new energy to intractable challenges on welfare and asylum.

Keep ReadingShow less
indian-soldiers-ww1-getty
Indian infantrymen on the march in France in October 1914 during World War I. (Photo: Getty Images)
Getty Images

Comment: We must not let anti-immigration anger erase south Asian soldiers who helped save Britain

This country should never forget what we all owe to those who won the second world war against fascism. So the 80th anniversary of VE Day and VJ Day this year have had a special poignancy in bringing to life how the historic events that most of us know from grainy black and white photographs or newsreel footage are still living memories for a dwindling few.

People do sometimes wonder if the meaning of these great historic events will fade in an increasingly diverse Britain. If we knew our history better, we would understand why that should not be the case.

For the armies that fought and won both world wars look more like the Britain of 2025 in their ethnic and faith mix than the Britain of 1945 or 1918. The South Asian soldiers were the largest volunteer army in history, yet ensuring that their enormous contribution is fully recognised in our national story remains an important work in progress.

Keep ReadingShow less
Spotting the signs of dementia

Priya Mulji with her father

Spotting the signs of dementia

How noticing the changes in my father taught me the importance of early action, patience, and love

I don’t understand people who don’t talk or see their parents often. Unless they have done something to ruin your lives or you had a traumatic childhood, there is no reason you shouldn’t be checking in with them at least every few days if you don’t live with them.

Keep ReadingShow less
Comment: Populist right thrives amid polarised migration debate

DIVISIVE AGENDA:Police clash withprotesters outside Epping councilafter a march from the Bell Hotelhousing asylum seekers last Sunday(31)

Getty Images

Comment: Populist right thrives amid polarised migration debate

August is dubbed 'the silly season’ as the media must fill the airwaves with little going on. But there was a more sinister undertone to how that vacation news vacuum got filled this year. The recurring story of the political summer was the populist right’s confidence in setting the agenda and the anxiety of opponents about how to respond.

Tensions were simmering over asylum. Yet frequent predictions of mass unrest failed to materialise. The patchwork of local protests and counter-protests had a strikingly different geography to last summer. The sporadic efforts of disorder came in the affluent southern suburbs of Epping and Hillingdon, Canary Wharf and Cheshunt with no disorder and few large protests in the thirty towns that saw riots last August. Prosecutions, removing local ringleaders, deter. Local cohesion has been a higher priority where violence broke out than everywhere else. Hotel use for asylum has halved - and is more common in the south. The Home Office went to court to keep asylum seekers in Epping’s Bell Hotel, for now, yet stresses its goal to stop using hotels by 2029. The Refugee Council’s pragmatic suggestion of giving time-limited leave to remain to asylum seekers from the five most dangerous countries could halve the need for hotels within months.

Keep ReadingShow less