The much-awaited trailer of Chhapaak starring Deepika Padukone was released on Tuesday. Deepika is playing the role of Malti, an acid attack survivor, a character that was reportedly inspired by Laxmi Agarwal, acid attack survivor and activist.
Directed by Meghna Gulzar of Raazi fame, the trailer shows how the film will go through Malti’s journey – from the horror of seeing her reflection in the mirror for the first time after the acid attack, to picking herself back up, and taking the battle against acid attacks to the court - much like Laxmi, whose petition with 27,000 signatures led the Supreme Court to direct Union and state governments to regulate acid sale in 2013.
The trailer also hints that the film may attempt to address other issues that victims of gender-based violence face such as victim shaming, character assassination and so on.
Deepika, who shared the trailer on her social media, said, "Rarely do you come across a story where you do not need an entire narration to decide if you want to be a part of a film or not.What is even more rare is to not be able to articulate and put into words what you feel for the film and it’s journey... Chhapaak is all of that and more for me..."
The film also stars Vikrant Massey, whose character appears to be based on Laxmi's former partner Alok Dixit, the journalist turned activist with whom Laxmi had co-founded the NGO Chhanv Foundation.
Chhapaak and is produced by Fox Star Studios, Deepika, Govind Singh Sandhu and Meghna Gulzar. “Through her story, the film makes an attempt to understand the on-ground consequences of surviving an acid attack in India, the medico-legal-social state of affairs that transpires after the acid has been hurled and the face is irreparably burnt,” its description reads.
The film is set to hit the big screen on January 10, 2020.
Watch the trailer here.
Among other films made on acid attack survivors is Parvathy’s Uyare. The Malayalam film released in April this year and follows the story of Pallavi Raveendran – played by Parvathy – an aviation student who is attacked with acid.
The film did very well at the box-office, and Parvathy was lauded for her performance. The Manu Ashokan-directorial also bagged a nomination under the Best Debut Feature Film of a director at the International Film Festival of India.
The recently released Tamil film Bigil, starring Vijay and Nayanthara, also featured a character who is an acid attack survivor and goes on to play in the women’s football team being coached by Vijay's character.