I want storytelling that celebrates women: Anushka Sharma

After the massive success of Pataal Lok, the producer-duo of Anushka Sharma and brother Karnesh Sharma have recently come out with their next OTT offering Bulbbul.

Anushka, who turned producer at 25 with the NH10, created a sub-genre of supernatural-feminist films like Pari, Phillauri and now Bulbbul, which have pushed the envelope and become success stories.

“It wasn’t intentional to create a genre of our own. We, however, always wanted to create a style of story-telling that celebrates women and their spirit,” says the actress-producer, adding that she did want to contribute to a strong female protagonist narrative.

“We always wanted to show strong, independent women to audiences through cinema and Bulbbul is our new offering in this regard. The portrayal of women in our cinema has always been skewed and lopsided. I felt that as an actress and I decided that I will correct this as much as I can through my productions,” she says.

Anushka is kicked that the audience is hooked on to the OTT platforms and the film as well. “We are really proud that Bulbbul is being loved by audiences because Karnesh and I really put our necks on the line to make projects that we hope will be clutter-breaking. The fact that people have called each and every attempt of ours as daring and adventurous is validation enough for us, because Clean Slate Films has really tried to give something new to people with each attempt.”

It is the urge to experiment, says Anushka, that has propelled the siblings to try out fresh ideas.

“Karnesh and I aren’t scared storytellers. We make each project thinking we have nothing to lose. We are non-conformists and that’s what has really helped us to explore and create. It is a huge milestone moment for us at Clean Slate Films because both Pataal Lok and now Bulbbul has got great reviews and janta ka appreciation.”

The Sui Dhaaga actress duly credits names like Anvita Dutt, Sudip Sharma, Prosit Roy, Avinash Arun and Anshai Lal for helming these projects. “They have made both (Bulbbul and Paatal Lok) these projects immensely successful.

Clean Slate Films has always been home to really talented first time writers, directors, musicians and actors looking to make a mark in cluttered Bollywood, and we have tried to do our best to bring their geniuses on screen with every single project. We take pride in that and it’s our core ethos which thankfully has resonated with like-minded creative artists,” she says in conclusion.