There is outrage in me but can't lose hope: Meghna on exploring grey areas of justice system in 'Daayra'

New Delhi, "Daayra" director Meghna Gulzar says the outrage she feels over questions of crime and justice has fuelled some of her work but she believes cinema must also keep hope alive and encourage conversations that could eventually lead to change.

Meghna, whose upcoming film deals with the aftermath of a rape and murder and the functioning of the justice system, said she does not want to lose optimism though there are issues that trouble her.

"There is outrage in me, I will not deny it and there has been for many years but one can't lose hope, one cannot stop being optimistic. Therefore, all I can do is create cinema that helps to keep that hope alive, or ask the question, or maybe enforce change," the director of critically-acclaimed movies such as "Talvar", "Raazi", "Chhapaak" and "Sam", told PTI during a media interaction in the national capital on Wednesday evening.

Meghna said she saw a form of redemption in the developments that followed the release of her earlier films "Talvar" and "Chhapaak", which also engaged with questions of crime, justice and social change.

"Talvar", released in 2015, was based on the 2008 Noida double murder case of a teenager and the domestic help.

"Chhapaak", released in 2020, was based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal and examined the aftermath of such attacks and the fight for tighter regulation of acid sales.

"When I made 'Talvar', there was no sight of any kind of closure to that story. It was after the film was released and many years later that a high court judgment came, and it exonerated the Talwar family. So for me that is redemption," she said.

"With 'Chhapaak', there was a re-look at the regulation of the sale of acid, for me that is redemption. I am hoping that with 'Daayra', these questions also lead to some kind of improvements, or at least beginning to think of ways to improve our law enforcement and our judicial system. That is the only hope that we can't lose sight of. We can't stop hoping," she added.

Starring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Prithviraj Sukumaran in the lead roles, "Daayra" is set in the aftermath of a gruesome gangrape and murder case that sparks widespread outrage and sets a series of events and two investigations in motion.

As the search for answers deepens, two senior police officers DCP Ajooni Kohli and DCP Raman Kumar Prithviraj Sukumaran, find themselves on opposing sides of a case, navigating the same system with contrasting approaches to duty and justice, according to the official synopsis.

While many people have found similarities between the film's narrative and the 2019 Hyderabad rape-murder case, Meghna said it is not based any one particular incident.

The filmmaker acknowledged that "Daayra" explores themes of crime, punishment and justice similar to those in "Talvar" and "Chhapaak", but said there was no deliberate plan to create a trilogy.

"It's purely a coincidence. It's not by design. And I think the attraction comes from the story... The overarching arcs of law and justice, and crime and punishment, are coincidentally similar in the films.