'Talvar' changed perspectives but don't believe it influenced court decision: Meghna Gulzar

Her film Talvar on the 2008 Aarushi-Hemraj twin murder case may have changed perspectives "to some extent" but it will be wrong to say it had any influence on the Allahabad High Court acquitting dentist couple Rajesh and Nupur Talwar, asserts director Meghna Gulzar. The Talwars acquittal, in the sensational murder case of their teen daughter and domestic help, has been challenged by the CBI in the Supreme Court.

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"... our judiciary operates free from all biases. They also looked at the facts of the case, like we did and processed them with more objectivity, Meghna said at the Times Literature Festival on Sunday when asked whether the film had any impact on the 2017 verdict.

"....I would indeed like to believe that the film has, to some extent changed the perspective of the people," she said.

Gulzar's 2015 film, starring Konkona Sensharma, Neeraj Kabi and Irrfan in lead roles, deconstructed the double murder from three different perspectives. Though the film presented all versions, some felt it tilted in favour of Talwars

The director, who also made the acclaimed film Raazi, is working on two real-life inspired stories -- a film on Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw and one on the case files of former Mumbai police commissioner Rakesh Maria.

"It is content that draws me to a film. The subject of Field Marshall Manekshaw came to me and I don't think anyone can let go of it. My film on Rakesh Maria is mainly about his case files that gives a perspective on how crime has changed in Mumbai over the years,? the 44-year-old director said.

The director and Shweta Bachchan, who has turned novelist with Paradise Towers, were in conversation with festival director Vinita Dawra Nangia in a session titled 'Carving a Niche'. 

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"Having an actor as a mother (Rakhee) and not choosing acting as a career, made things easy. Because then you don't have to live up to any benchmarks set by them," she said.

Meghna Gulzar, the daughter of actor Rakhee and lyricist-filmmaker-writer Gulzar, was compared to her father at the beginning of her career. However, her impressive lineage did not help her get big stars for Filhaal, her directorial debut about surrogacy, she said.

"When my films worked, they worked because of the film. Not because of who my father is," she added. 

Shweta, on the other hand, was never interested in acting despite both her parents -- Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan -- being huge stars in Bollywood.

"What I have started to do now has nothing to do with the film world. There's a certain temperament needed to be in the profession, and I don't have what it takes," she said.