When fury gives birth to a film

Bhumi Pednekar plays a small-town reporter in the social drama

Movies are born out of many things - desire, passion, and sometimes, even rage. For director Pulkit, anger and urgency were the two emotions that drove him to make Bhakshak. Understandably so, considering the Bhumi Pednekar-starrer is inspired by the real-life cases of child abuse at shelter homes. "We were trying to find a story that has social relevance, and landed on this [news] of shelter homes across the country facing such [atrocities]. When we started researching, we had sleepless nights thinking about the kids' suffering. We were anxious and angry. We felt someone had to tell this story right. We had that urgency," says the director, who co-wrote the film with partner Jyotsana Nath.

The Netflix release, also starring Sai Tamhankar and Sanjay Mishra, has been produced by Shah Rukh Khan's banner. The director, who previously helmed Bose: Dead/Alive (2017), recalls how his social drama found takers immediately. "Red Chillies [Entertainment] was the first production house that read the script and said yes to it."

To Pulkit, Pednekar headlining Bhakshak is the biggest blessing. "Bhumi is one of those actors who understand the outer and inner workings of a character. The process becomes amazing when an actor is not concerned about the camera angles, the way s/he is looking, but is concerned about internalising the character. Sometimes, when you ask for something, God blesses you with much more. That's how I felt about working with Bhumi. If you see her notes, you'll be surprised by how big the bundle is."