Sexual harassment is a tricky affair. The accused and accuser have two different points of view. In Inkaar which Sudhir Mishra has just completed the director has opted for a very unique format of presentation: there will be two points of view on sexual harassment, Arjun's and Chitrangada's, presented completely apart from one another and without judgement.
Apparently even the crucial sexual sequence which precipitates the harassment charge has been shot from two separate viewpoints, the man and the woman's.
Chitrangda Singh who plays the woman who accuses Arjun Rampal of sexual harassment says it was unique and disturbing shooting the same ugly incident from two different perspectives.
`It was a surreal experience, playing a victim and feeling helpless in one version of the story, and then in Arjun's version of the same story I came across as provocative, aggressive and sexually manipulative. To walk that thin line between perceptions of sexual morality between men and woman, was life-changing. `
Explains Sudhir Mishra, `Yes, it's a rather unconventional way of looking at the question of sex crimes. Normally we presume the man is at fault, as it happened with Shiney.
But there's always another side, another perspective hidden away from view, but nonetheless lurking in the shadows. Without blaming either party or absolving the accused of guilt I have put forward both the perspectives.
It's important to open up the discussion on sexual harassment. There's too much presumption and stereotyping in such cases. Men are also harassed at work-places. And also falsely accused. `
So does Chitrangda accuse Arjun's character falsely in Inkaar?
Sudhir chuckles wickedly. `That you'll get to know when you see the film. All I can say is, audiences will be shocked by the denouement. `
Incidentally the film is back being titled Inkaar after a long search for another title.
Says Sudhir, `We had all but finalized the title Kaam: The Official Story because kaam means work. It also means sex, But now we're back to calling it Inkaar. `
