Raveena Tandon, popularly known as the ‘mast-mast’ girl of Bollywood, has finally decided to hit the silver screens again this year, after a prolonged break. Recently spotted in the capital for the shoot of her upcoming release Maatr: The Mother, the actress talks in detail about her role and how the movie is all set to address the judicial system of our nation.
The movie is a depiction of the growing violence against women in India. Sharing the intention behind the plot, the actress states, “The movie, to a great extent, speaks about our system failure. The idea is to portray what can happen, what should happen and what can be done in situations such as these.”
Distressed with the rampant increase of violence against women in recent times, the actress explains, “It is common to hear about brutal cases in every city and state these days. We know that it has happened in Delhi multiple times and recently even in Kerala. And it is very disheartening to see when the system fails to provide justice to the victims and their families in such incidents.”
Voicing her concern she shares, “Violence against women does not solely include rape. It includes incidents of domestic violence, molestation and even eve teasing. The problem is that there is no stringent punishment or deterrent, where people actually end up fearing the repercussions of such inhuman acts.”
Referring to the juvenile involved in the Nirbhaya case, the actress discusses the current laws that monitor the juveniles in India, and the changes she feels are the need of the hour. “In other countries the age for juveniles has been moved down to 14 or 16. India is one among the few developing countries where the bar is still set at 18. If the boy is old enough to rape, he is most certainly old enough to take the punishment.”
She adds, “I am not saying that death should be the answer to all such crimes, but a psychological evaluation must be done of the person and the extent of brutality should be analysed to conclude the type of punishment these people deserve.”
Her movie also focuses on capturing the lives of the families that have lost their loved ones to incidents of violence and rape. “We were shooting our film in a village in Haryana. Having interacted with a few families, I have realised that they are living for the sake of living without anything to live for. After shooting a few scenes, we all were disturbed for a week. One shudders to even imagine what these families must be going through. We should think of rehabilitating them and not the ones who are worthy of punishment,” the mother of three daughters adds.
She feels the media, especially cinema, is a strong and effective tool to bridge the gap between urban cities and rural villages for spreading awareness about the less-known incidents that occur in these places.
Inspired by movies such as Mary Kom, the actress believes that Bollywood today has seen a drastic change in the way females are being portrayed. “It is great to see the way young directors nowadays are questioning society through a cinematic medium,” she says.
On a more cheerful note, while spelling out her fitness mantra, she says that positivity is her key to wellness. “I believe in staying fit not for the outside world, but for myself,” she affirms.
