What do you think of when you think of a woman cop in a film? There is a stereotype of a character who walks a certain way and has particularly masculine mannerisms to reflect that she is tough and pretty much no-nonsense.
Bollywood star Kareena Kapoor, who returns to the big screen after two years with director Meghna Gulzar's Daayra, on Wednesday said her cop role of Ajooni Kohli in the film challenges all these labels attached to the portrayal of female police officers.
Recently, actors Deepika Padukone (Singham Returns which also starred Kareena Kapoor), Sonakshi Sinha (Dahaad), and Sanya Malhotra (Kathal) played cops on both the big screen and streamers. Fatima Sana Shaikh is set to play a police officer investigating a sexual abuse case in the upcoming web series Hunkkaar.
In response to NDTV's question about the depiction of cops, regardless of gender, has evolved with time, the actor said, "There is this stereotypical format kind of a version that we have that she is butch, she slightly has that particular walk, she's slightly manly, gun uthake action karti hai (she picks up a gun to do action)."
But Daayra shows a woman cop in a different light, she said, adding Meghna Gulzar was clear that she wanted a female police officer at the helm of the film, also starring Prithviraj Sukumaran.
Inspired by several true events from across India, Daayra is a police procedural drama that explores two contrasting perspectives on justice -- shown through Kareena Kapoor's DCP Ajooni Kohli and Prithviraj Sukumaran's DCP Raman Kumar -- in a case involving gang rape and subsequent murder.
Kareena Kapoor said the subject guided the director to have Ajooni Kohli as one of the two central characters in the movie.
"In this film, because of the sensitivity of the subject, Meghna was clear that she wanted a woman cop. Somebody who is a woman, is feminine, who puts lipstick, but at the same time is quite stern but does everything with a smile. Ajooni walks the straight rope but she does not pick up a gun and does her action chops. That's not her character as such," she added.
Meghna Gulzar, whose last directorial was 2023's Sam Bahadur, is seemingly building a filmography that questions the system, demands accountability, and compels the viewer to think about their role in the larger scheme of things. After Talvar (based on 2008's Aarushi Talwar case) and Chhapaak (based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal), Daayra appears to be the third film in the similar direction.
Is this 'trilogy' a pattern? "Purely coincidental," she said.
"It's not by design. The attraction is for the story, what happens with the human quotient in it is more important for me. The overriding arches of law, justice, crime, and punishment are coincidentally similar in the film. For me, the most crucial part of the story is the human quotient," the filmmaker added.
Written by Yash Keswani, Sima Agarwal and Meghna Gulzar, Daayra is backed by Junglee Pictures and Pen Studios. It is set to have a box office clash this Friday with Kunal Kemmu's Vibe.
