Nushrratt Bharuccha first stepped into the spotlight with Luv Ranjan’s 2011 film ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama’, even though she made her debut in the movies in 2006. But it wasn’t until 2018’s ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety’ that people started recognising her by her name. These Luv Ranjan films, which also starred Kartik Aaryan, were popular with audiences but drew criticism for being misogynistic, with female characters often portrayed as unreasonable or manipulative.
In a new interview, Nushrratt was asked about these films and if she was happy with how ‘the girl was represented’. To this, Nushrratt said that even though she does not like these films personally, she would do them again as she really enjoyed playing those characters.
In a chat with ‘Yuvaa’, when she was asked if she was happy with her characters in ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama’ and ‘Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety’, she said, “Even then I was not happy. I said no to the films.” When asked about ‘how the girl was represented’, Nushrratt said, “I have no problem with it, absolutely not. I would do it again in a heartbeat and love what I am doing. I enjoyed playing Neha, playing Cheeku and playing Sweety. Even though all three were very far from who I am, very unrelatable to me and I had my own fight with the writers and the director how do I do this? I am not convinced why she is doing this or being this way. That was my battle. But did I have fun doing it? I loved it. Would I do it again? 100 percent. Provided people are seeing it correctly.”
Bharuccha said that this was a ‘comedy film’ and they didn’t mean to say that all women are the same. “That was a comedy film. We showed three girls who were a certain way. We didn’t say all girls are like this,” she said and added that she did not like the films. “Even though I didn’t like the film, I didn’t like my character personally, I really enjoyed playing it and I would do it again because I can’t judge a character. I am not supposed to judge it,” she said. Talking about the criticism, Nushrratt then said that another director should have made a film from a woman’s point of view.
Nushrratt mentioned that many women have come up to her and asked to recite the famous ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama’ monologue and she has to remind them that it is not in their praise, but criticising them. “The number of girls that have personally said, ‘Ek baar monologue suna do (Please recite the monologue)’. What will you tell them? I used to be shocked looking at the girls, ‘You know this is not in your praise’. ‘Yes yes, but please say it once’. I wouldn’t want to hear it again, but there were people who wanted to and we made a film for those people. They were the ones who spent money on it,” she said.