Nushrat Bharucha: Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety cannot be misogynistic

Nushrat Bharucha is basking in the success of her latest outing Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety (SKTKS) which has crossed Rs 100 crore at the box office. When quizzed about whether life has changed after the film’s success, the actress said to a leading Indian daily, “Drastically! I was looking forward to connecting and working with certain producers and directors from the industry whom I have already known. Now, when I go to meet them, their first response is, ‘Aap toh star ban gayi. If I call you, will you answer the phone or someone else will?’. People are looking at me in a new light. It’s almost like, ‘We knew she was around, she did a decent job in the films that she was seen in, but now she is somebody we can depend on’. The film has done so much business — the (box office) numbers have made me a sort of dependable actor.”

“I guess that’s why the business matters. Overall, when they set up projects, they know what will work commercially. In that respect, I have become an option for a lot more projects,” added Nushrat.

On being asked about if she has a lineup of film offers after the success of SKTKS, she said, “I have started meeting people. I am looking at doing something that I have not done before. I am considering a mix of things, maybe two-three different genres. Or I will wait for something I really like doing and do that one thing for the next one year. I am still taking my time because it’s crucial. If I take a wrong turn now, it will ruin all my hard work.”

As Luv Ranjan’s all the three parts of the films have been termed as misogynistic, Nushrat opinionated on this by stating, "I know what people have said about his films. But the first thing you have to see is whose story it is. Both, Pyaar Ka Punchnama (PKP) and the sequel, were from the boy’s point of view. It was about what happens after two people, who are in love, have spent time together for five-six months. It was about the bad days and not the good days. There are many love stories where everything ends happily, but this was about what happens when love goes wrong. And for the three boys, it went wrong in PKP. Secondly, it was a comedy where things are exaggerated. That is why certain comedies work the way they are. So, in the writing and performance, we did that. For me as an actor, my character was in an unreal space, it was caricaturish. The film was about three boys being stuck with three wrong girls. If you make PKP from the girl’s point of view, it would have been the other way round. The boys would have been wrong for the girls. That wouldn’t have been misogynistic."

Speaking about Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, she said, "In this film, the girl is herself saying, ‘I am flawed, I am the villain and this is what I am going to do in life’. She is actually challenging the guy. It cannot be misogynistic because we haven’t shown the girl doing anything wrong. Which girl doesn’t see the bank balance of the guy she is marrying? Not only the girl, even her parents want her to marry a financially-secure guy. She is being practical to a point that ‘if I get married and come into the house, I will decide for my man and vice versa’. She doesn’t want his friend to come into that space. That girl doesn’t do any wrong to her fiancé. It’s not about whether she is right or wrong. The question is whom does the boy choose. Does he want to keep his friend or be with his girl forsaking the friendship? He chooses his friend over the girl. There is nothing misogynistic about it. But, because the first two films (PKP and PKP 2) had that flavour, it got carried to Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety."