Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha is reuniting with Taapsee Pannu again after "Mulk" and "Thappad" in "Assi" (English: Eighty). Billed as a courtroom thriller, the film has been named thus for a reason. It takes on the subject of the rising cases of sexual violence and exploitation in India. The "eighty" refers to the daily number of reported cases.
Taapsee Pannu's co-stars include Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Kani Kusruti, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub , Supriya Pathak, Revathi, and Naseeruddin Shah.
Ahead of the theatrical release of "Assi" on Feb. 20, Sinha shared that the impetus to make the film was born out of a strong urge to seek the answers behind the violence.
"I was going through this internal conflict and kept thinking, What can I do?' Why are we not doing enough? Is the police not doing anything? What about the judiciary?' And then I realised that the problem is something else. It is easy to blame the police and judiciary, but difficult to blame yourself. This film was written while I was going through this 'antardwand' (inner conflict)," he told PTI. "This is the number of cases that are reported every day. There is no count of those that are hidden on a daily basis. This number was so shocking when we calculated it because something like this occurs every 18 to 20 minutes. By the time you and I finish talking about it, a woman would have already been exploited."
Sinha last directed "Bheed" starring Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar. "Assi" sees the director reuniting with "Article 15" writer Gaurav Solanki. The film, said Sinha, was backed up by strong research. He shared one haunting anecdote. "Even if there is a support system from all sides, a woman wrote that she used to look at herself in the mirror but thought it was someone else. So, it is very disturbing. Because we as men just cannot fathom this. I read a lot of psychological analysis about perpetrators. 'Who are the people who do this? Where do they get the strength to do this?' So, there were a lot of shocking details," the filmmaker said.