"It is not a 500 word essay on mental health." - 'Atrangi Re' writer
- IndiaGlitz, [Wednesday,January 05 2022]
Director Anand L Rai's recently released film 'Atrangi Re' had considerable hype around it and it has managed to live upto it. The film stars Sara Ali Khan, Dhanush and Akshay Kumar and it has a few flaws which have become talking points recently. These include the age difference between male and female leads and the insensitive representation of people with mental health issues.
While Anand has addressed the first issue multiple times in his interviews, this time it was writer Himanshu Sharma who defended the film against the allegation that 'Atrangi Re' did not do justice with mental health issues of Sara's character. He told a news outlet, In the end, it’s a film and not a documentary. It is not a 500 word essay on mental illness, it is a film, it needs to entertain you.
Himanshu further added, When we write a film, it has to maneuver its way to many of the issues that I spoke about, and at times certain things take a backseat, and other times it takes a forefront. Yes, the mental health issue is there but to me as a writer and for Aanand as a director, it was more of a sugar coating to say larger things. See the film for what it is and not for what you wanted. A large number of people saw that, they knew what the film was talking about and that is why we have got so much love.”