No celebrations for Pink's National Award win: Shoojit
Pink's co-producer Shoojit Sircar, while talking about the film winning the National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues, said, "It still disturbs me when I watch my own film, so no celebrations." He added, "This film is to introspect, this film is not to celebrate." The film revolves around the issue of sexual harassment and consent.
Shootjit Sircar's production Pink bagged the award for The Best Film on Social Issues at the 64th National Awards this year. Pink, a poignant courtroom drama directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, starred Amitabh Bachchan, Tapsee Pannu, Kirti Kulhari, Angad Bedi and Andrea Tariang in the lead.  This news is perhaps a time for celebration for Rising Sun Film Production, you think? "I don't want to celebrate this film as it's a social issue film," says Shootjit in an exclusive interview to India Today TV. "I am happy that the people and the jury have loved it, I am proud and honoured but this film is to introspect, this film is not to celebrate you know. If you go and see this film and you come out it really hits your head. It still disturbs me when I watch my own film, so no celebrations. We want to introspect. And we are going to take this thought ahead. We are going to take Pink wherever possible so that it reaches maximum audience," says the producer.  The director-producer may have been thrilled with his win, but he believed that Amitabh Bachchan deserved the Best Actor honour for this films. "Pink without him (Bachchan) was not possible. The way he supported us on screen and off screen and I was really hoping that he wins the National Award for Best Actor because I think his is one of the finest performances this year," admitted Shootjit."But it's ok. I'll go by the jury. Bachchan Sir called me immediately after the announcement and we chatted and we planned that we will keep moving on and will keep doing things which stirs him and challenges him also as an actor," he adds.  This is the third time Sircar has collaborated with Bachchan Senior. Their first was a film titled Shoebite which after a lot of delay, eventually got shelved, and then they came together for Shoojit's directorial, Piku in 2015. This win is the fourth film in a row to have bagged a National honour for Sircar's home production Rising Sun Film, in partnership with Ronnie Lahiri. Shoojit Sircar became a household name with his directorial Vicky Donor, starring newcomers Ayushmann Khuranna and Yami Gautam. With the story revolving around the sensitive issue of sperm donation, the film sparked many a conversations. The film which was co-produced by John Abraham, earned Sircar his first National Award for Best Popular Film, and veteran actors Annu Kapoor and Dolly Alhuwalia won Best Supporting Actors (Male and female) for the cult film in 2013. This was just the beginning! In 2014 he bought home the National Film Award for Best Audiography to Nihar Ranjan and Bishwadeeo Chatterjee for John Abraham starrer Madras Cafe.Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone's Piku, an emotional film about a father-daughter relationship won the National Award Best actor for Bachchan, and Best Screenplay along with Best Dialogue for Juhi Chaturvedi in 2015. Sircar, who's shifted bag and baggage to Kolkata with his family in tow, is busy working on his next, a dream project of sorts "I think it's already in the news that I am working on Uddham Singh. I have been following his life for a long long time and couple of more films including uniting with Juhi Chaturvedi again and doing something," he said.Shoojit has been toying with the script of the biopic of Uddham Singh, a film that is based in the pre-independence era for the past 18 years now. Udham Singh, is a forgotten hero, who assassinated Michael O'Dwyer, the former Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab in British India in 1940, to avenge the 1919, Jallianwala Bagh massacre.