'I'm an MCP!': Mahesh Manjrekar

Ronjita Das in Bombay

The venue: Cinemax theatre.
The occasion: A special screening for women.
The film: Astitva.

After the film, the cast and crew joined the audience for a Q & A session.

Excerpts from the discussion:

TABU:
How did you prepare for your character?

There were no preparations as such. Mahesh did everything. He had confidence in my character.

Since a big chunk of our population is the middle class housewife, I had to perform well, as I represented a large section.

Once a heroine gets married, she is out of the reckoning. Filmmakers stop knocking at her door. Are you not worried that this might happen to you, too?

There are many actresses who have broken that norm. Like my aunt, Shabana Azmi.

The film industry is changing. They have to open up and include married women. Actually, men like to see virginal women on screen. If that view can be changed, then married women will be welcomed back!

Is marriage the ultimate for a woman?

We have made marriage a rule. Society has made it a rule. But it really doesn’t have to be that way.

Marriage is very relative. It should be up to the person whether she wants to marry or not. Every woman deserves that choice.

People think a woman is complete only if she is a wife and then a mother. I believe a woman is complete just being a woman.

SACHIN KHEDEKAR:
Why did you do a negative role in your first big film? Won't this affect your future?

If I thought so, I wouldn't have done the role!

MAHESH MANJREKAR:
Why did Srikant Pandit divorce Aditi? He just let her go!

Remember, this is a fantasy ending. Srikant wanted Aditi to find her identity. That rarely happens in the real world.

Your film has no elements of vulgarity. That's good...

In sensitive films such as this one, dialogues are most important. Visuals aren't.

That is why this film is best suited for children aged 14 and above. At 14, you are impressionable, you can understand. Younger children want songs, dances, which this film does not have.

How much of this story is from your own life?

I'm an MCP! I'm not the ideal male.

But when my daughter was born, I became more aware of the society she would grow in.

I saw myself in Srikant Pandit. I always thought like a man. When my daughter went to school, her last name was mine. The school insisted that her father's name be added to hers, not her mother's.

The fact that the mother kept her in her womb for nine months is forgotten. Women don't have an identity. She has her father's name today and will have her husband's tomorrow.

She doesn't have her own name.

I just hope that everyone tells their children, especially daughters, to fight for their rights!

Tabu adds: I am my own person. I may be more fortunate than most women. But we should never lose sight of ourselves.

Girls should be brought up to be their own person. And the seeds for it we must sow today.