Scars are stories: 'Bulbbul' director Anvita Dutt

expression of ' good, b and ugly' should be reserved for one's actions, t ir physical appearance, believes "Bulbbul" director Anvita Dutt who says every scar has a story behind it.

A burn on face, a glass eye or a hunchback, personality of many villains in our books and pop culture is often described in terms of overt.

In her directorial debut "Bulbbul", Dutt gives an original voice to legend of witch, who is thing but a woman wronged.

"For me scars are stories. I don't look at m as a deformity. At a simple level it is what happened that this happened. Ugly are actions, t appearances," she told PTI in an interview over a Zoom call.

It is sort of befitting that Dutt upended idea of witch, often portrayed as a conniving, evil woman with magic powers by Brors Grimm, German authors who collected and published folklore during 19th century.

"Grimm Brors took oral trition stories and put it down on paper for first time. But at heart of it, y were all cautionary tales told to little girls to warn m about what can go wrong under guise of an engaging, spooky and fun story, always ending with hope of rescue."

But only way in Indian oral oral trition histories differed was re was talk of a rescue.

"It ended with a girl dying and coming back as a chudail. se figures of women were later sanitised and became just a scary story but essentially, y were all women wronged coming for justice. Our cautionary tales h a warning ahe for boys."

Dutt, an avid reer, said witch lore has always fascinated her.

In India, it is still believed that when a woman dies from being a victim of brutality or sexual assault, she comes back as a 'chudail' to take revenge.

"Even w women dying like that are buried or burned, face down and feet tied. Sometimes ir toes are nailed toger so that she can't get up and her feet don't twist. n at burial site, y scatter mustard seeds. Thinking when she rises and sees seeds, because she is a woman, she will collect seeds all night. n she will go back. It is so s," she said.

filmmaker said feet, a central motif in "Bulbbul", are also a symbol that a woman is supposed to walk down a certain path.

"Even mors and grandmors tell us how to be. If we don't, we get to hear 'I'll break your legs'. So, twisted feet is a demon of your own making."

widely praised film, fronted by Tripti Dimri, has also received some criticism for its depiction of violence against women to achieve empowerment.

Dutt said she is ok with criticism.

"Receive story for just that, forget about messaging. Stories heal you. y find a new way of thinking for you. You get messaging, good. It changes you, great. It doesn't change you, it's fine. (But) This is my story. It begins and ends for me at that."

longtime lyricist-dialogue writer, kwn for "Student of Year", "Queen", penned script years ago and said when she was in act of writing it, she was "changing myself".

"I h to reach my late 30s to transform. I didn't want or girls to take so many years. It's such a waste."

Set in Bengal of late 19th century, "Bulbbul" follows a young girl's journey from incence to strength as legend of a witch casts a show over her world.

solid work of team, including production designer Meenal Agarwal, cinematographer Siddharth Diwan, music composer Amit Trivedi, helps Netflix film realise Dutt's vision - a mishmash of fantasy, beauty and humanism.

" more fantastical it gets, more humanised emotion is and that's what I love about se stories," she said.

Most of it was filmed in Mumbai with set extensions through visual effects, but scenes with exterior of 'haveli' and Bidini's (Paoli Dam) room was shot at majestic Rajbari Bawali, which a 2.5 hours drive from Kolkata.

Among all sorts of layers, influence of Bengali literature like Tagore's "Chokher Bali" and "Nastanirh" flows through film as seamlessly as crimson hues, but director said it is primarily Bulbbul's story.

" so-called hom came into my story subconsciously, even I was very delighted. But it was never like 'Oh a tip of hat to Tagore'."

On whole, film is a trdy with all characters, including men - Indranil (Rahul Bose), Satya (Avinash Tiwary) and Sudip (Parambrata Chattophyay), as victims of patriarchy.

"Bidini is most tragic character. Her idea of power is just about managing to make day. Indranil's act is monstrous, he is t. He is burdened by responsibility of being patriarch. He believes that's how he is supposed to be.

" nice guy Satya would have saved princess in Disney fairytale. But n you see him slipping into same trap. Sudip is a reflection of Renaissance man. Almost in awe of Bulbbul who kws she is more than what he can imagine or deal with."

Calling it a "howdunnit" as opposed to a whoddunit, Dutt said film doesn't glorify witch as a "martyr".

"It is about payback. It's t burning of woman but also forest that feeds her. That you will burn down that system rar than let her survive," ding her friends director Shakun Batra and music composer Vishal Dlani have sensitively responded to film.

film is produced by actor Anushka Sharma and her bror Karnesh Ssharma's Clean Slate Filmz.

Im credit: Instagram/@tripti_dimri