The makers of Deepika Padukone-Vikrant Massey starrer Chhapaak recently launched the title song of the film. The Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy composition is crooned by Arijit Singh and penned by Gulzar. Laxmi Agarwal, the acid attack victim on whose life the film is based, was present at the event as well.

During a recent interaction with a leading daily, Gulzar was asked how he approached a topic like the one that Chhapaak deals with. To which he said, “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," adding, “I was very clear, when I sat down to write, that these are not faces to be pitied, to be offered sympathy."

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For the unversed, Gulzar has made women-centric films like Aandhi and Khushboo. When prodded about his thoughts on the part of survivors of such attacks to cover their face, he expressed, “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. Unki aankhon mein jo zindagi chamakti hai, woh nazar nahi aati unhe!”

Last but not the least, Gulzar signed off by saying that he would hate it if someone calls them ‘these poor girls’. He mentioned, "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... There is nothing for the girls to do differently – it is others who have to change, how they think, how they react.”

Directed by Meghna Gulzar, Chhapaak releases on January 10.

(Source: The Times of India)