The shoot goes thus. As Hazel gyrates to seduce Karan Mittal played by actor Rohit Roy, director Karan Razdan, even in the midst of the seductive serenade, raises serious issues through his film Mittal Versus Mittal, delving into the taboo area of marital rape that is hitherto unexplored on the Indian silver screen.
Karan Razdan's India's first film on marital rape, produced by Dinesh Chugh, hits out even through the glam and glitz to expose yet another facet of a man-woman relationship which every couple goes through but don't speak about.
"Mittal Versus Mittal is a film takes you on a journey whereby you see a man and a woman with different masks at different stages of their relationship," explains director Karan Razdan, who without taking sides, probes about the right that a man and the woman have when they enter a bond named marriage.
"This sequence and song is just one aspect of the same," explains the director.
"It is not an inserted song. The number performed by Hazel flows with the script where we show another facet of Rohit Roy aka Karan Mittal. This is a very important sequence to establish the hypocrisy of the male protagonist."
Rituparna Sengupta plays Rohit Roy's wife who takes him to court, Aanjjan Srivastav and Reema Lagoo play her parents, while Suchitra Krishnamoorthy and Gulshan Grover play the lawyers of the man and woman respectively.
Says Rituparna, "I think as a woman, this sequence matters as it exposes that side of a male who thinks he has the license to "enjoy life to the fullest" while his working wife is considered a doormat for all practical purposes."
Adds Rohit Roy, "This is an issue which is pretty common and occurs in every fourth-fifth house in the country. But due to societal pressure it doesn't come out into the open.
Even if ten women stand up and stay this has been happening to us. It would make a great difference. We are not being judgmental on this issue and that is what makes the film strong."