Geetanjali Rao: “Bollywood Often Takes Away The Politics Of A Person To Tell Their Story.”

Filmmaker, writer and actor Geetanjali Rao is going places with her recent animated feature film Bombay Rose. The film got its India premiere at the ongoing MAMI Film Festival and has been getting amazing reviews. Talking about the portrayals of characters in mainstream Bollywood, Geejantaji pointed out how filmmakers conveniently separate politics from the character and make a ‘safe’ film.

When asked about is it difficult to talk about social issues with people getting offended with every alternate film, Geetanjali told Hindustan Times, “All over the world, films are used to tell the audience what people want to say. No matter how great a country, every government has detractors and will always face criticism. I think it is the responsibility of all artists to speak about issues that are not being talked about. I am not talking about issues, my characters come with their issues and I have just made sure not to isolate them. Bollywood often conveniently takes away the politics of person and tells the story. If I tell the story of a privileged person, his politics will be different from one who is not so privileged.”

Talking about her film Bombay Rose, she said, “Bombay Rose is the story of young people who sell flowers across the street from Juhu beach in Mumbai. The boy is from Kashmir who lost his parents to insurgency and escaped from there. The girl is from Madhya Pradesh, escaping child marriage. It is about migrants in Mumbai who came to just find a living, not for Bollywood, not people who come there to become heroes. But I have used Bollywood …how it affects the characters.”

The film is India’s first attempt at an animated feature film and has received a tremendous response. Bombay Rose also opened at the Critics Week at Venice International Film Festival, as well as in Toronto, London & Busan film festivals. What’s more is that it is the first Indian animation film ever to get selected to open the Venice Critic’s Week.

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