Two years ago, when filmmaker Meghna Gulzar’s Talvar arrived in cinemas, the director would have never thought she would get to talk about the film again so soon. The Konkona SenSharma and Irrfan Khan starrer, based on the 2008 Aarushi Talwar double murder case, had made headlines for being a propaganda film to change the public opinion about the Talwar couple, Nupur and Rajesh, who were in the jail at the time for being the prime suspects in the murder of their daughter Aarushi and servant Hemraj.
The Vishal Bhardwaj production has once again got people talking after the Allahabad High Court's Thursday verdict that finally acquitted the Talwar couple. Judgment was pronounced by a two-member Allahabad High Court bench, which said conviction can’t be based on suspicion and they have to be given benefit of doubt.
“Relieved,” that’s how Meghna described the first thought that came to her mind after the verdict. If she is satisfied? “Satisfied is a little bit presumptuous. It kind of makes me sound like some kind of an authority on these things and I’m not,” she adds.
However, Meghna says she is certain that there has never been ample evidence against the doctor couple to put them in jail.
“I do very strongly believe that there wasn’t enough reason or enough conclusive evidence for the Talwars to be serving life imprisonment for killing Arushi and Hemraj.”
Not many directors dare to touch upon subjects that are too sensitive but Meghna, in an exclusive chat with News18.com, says it took her only a “fraction of second to jump at this project”.
Meghna says they never tried to influence anyone’s opinion through the film and only showed whatever information was available in the public domain.
“It was not a prediction. We did not dig up anything new from new sources. All the information that is in Talvar is out there. It’s just that the juicier narrative got shouted at more loudly than the other side."
On asking who she thinks should be held accountable for whatever time Talwars have spent in the jail, Meghna says, "All of us. We as a society are responsible. The Noida police botched up the investigation and whatever discrepancies within the CBI with its two teams investigating the same case coming up with the different theories also had a big part to play."
“The Judiciary also could have rectified whatever was wrong. The media spun all kinds of narratives that the police was feeding them at the time,” she adds.
Anything that she wants to say to the Talwars? “I would want to meet them for sure whenever I do get an opportunity. But what can you say? What can you say to people who have been through what they have? What can you really say that will be right or found right or make you think that it might just make them feel better?”
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