Gulzar: Don’t pity these girls. The acid has not scarred their ego, or their self-confidence

Ask Gulzar how he approached a topic like the one that '

Chhapaak

' deals with – a movie with a theme that is not music-friendly in the conventional sense – and he is, almost immediately, charged up, instead of the quiet and contemplative frame one had expected. That gives you a sense of the tone that his writing must have.

“When I first heard of the story that Meghna was trying to tell, of these girls who have faced acid attacks at the hands of these men, how they have fought their battles, I immediately had a sense ki ek badi zimmedari ki baat kar rahi hai, society ki responsibility ki baat kar rahi hai. There is so much that the attacks try to do. Woh sirf chehra nahi bigaadte, chehre ke peeche jo bhavana hai, jo ambition hai, jo jeene ki arzoo hai, woh sab zakhmi kar dete hain.”

So is he writing to reflect the sentiments of an injured victim, then? The response is quick and firm: No. “I was very clear, when I sat down to write, that these are not faces to be pitied, to be offered sympathy. Iss chehhre ke peeche jo koshish hai, jo zindagi hai, us ka samman karna hai. Chehre ki pehchan mitai hai, mere andar ki pehchan nahi miti – that is the sentiment they have. And so that is the sentiment that I have looked to express.”

What is his take on the instinctive reflex on the part of survivors of such attacks to cover their face? “That is not a statement of them looking to hide. They have so much courage. They hide their faces because of how people respond to them. It is the people who need to be educated. They see the scars, but not the eyes – the eyes that are still bright with hope, with courage. Unki aankhon mein jo zindagi chamakti hai, woh nazar nahi aati unhe!”

Right. What is the sentiment that he is communicating, then? “See, this is not a story about how this poor girl’s life has been destroyed. This is about the courage these girls have. 'Chhapak' inki ladai ki picture hai. Udasi aur mayoosi ki picture nahi hai. Taras nahi hai. Yeh ladai ki film hai – main aise hi ladoongi, jaisi main hoon! What is the spirit of these girls? It is this: Just because the acid scarred my face, took away my recognition, doesn’t mean I’ll give up. I am more than my face, but you have to look through my eyes to see it. With this face also, I am alive, and I am fighting.”

Gulzar with his daughter, 'Chhapaak' director Meghna
Did the trigger for these thoughts come from what Meghna narrated, or from what he felt when he met them? “I have met them also. And this is not the first time I have met people fighting such battles, or understood their spirit. For these girls, of course, this has happened through Meghna since she has taken this topic for her film, but for some 25 years I have been working with Arushi (the NGO), with differently-abled children. I know what happens.”

A pause, then, as if he is rewinding to the lessons learnt and the emotions absorbed there. “These girls, you know, I would hate it if someone calls them ‘these poor girls’. No! No poor girls. No becharis. Don’t pity them at all. They don’t need pity. They have their ego, they have their self-respect. And all that is intact. The acid has not ruined their self-respect or their confidence. It is the attacker who is defective, it is his mind that is handicapped. He needs to be taught. When people look at these survivors with those looks that say they are not ‘normal’ – it is the people looking at them like that who need to be addressed. There is nothing for the girls to do differently – it is others who have to change, how they think, how they react.”

Deepika Padukone as acid attack survivor Malti in 'Chhapaak'

Given the news reports that we read day in and day out, is that realistic? Is there any real sense that there is any change in the way our society reacts, behaves when it comes to such things? Soch kahan badal rahi hai? That question charges him up. “Lekin soch kyun nahi badalti? Kyun nahi badalti? The whole fight is that the mindset doesn’t change. But why should we take that for granted? It is not the victim who has to change. It is the aggressor, the one who assaults, his mindset has to change. You can’t get away with taking that mindset for granted!”

Fair point, taken. And beyond these – the obsessive attacker, the staring bystander – who else needs to change? “Society. Society has to help – you cannot have acid available at every shop.”
Will society help? You keep the question to yourself.

What are his favourite lines, from all that he has written in this impassioned, defiant mode? The response is instant, as he recites from the poem written for the '

Ab Ladna Hai

' campaign:
Soch samajh ke gaur karna haiThodi si koshish aur karna haiAb Ladna HaiHar chehre ko sanvarna haiChaand ka daag bhi bharna haiAb Ladna Hai
If tough situations demand a flight or fight mode, there’s little doubt what mode the survivors, the movie, and the wordsmith are in.