File photo of Taapsee Pannu at a media promotion of “Pink,” in New Delhi, Sept. 2016. (Press Trust of India)

Everyone remembers Taapsee Pannu’s powerhouse performance in ‘Pink,’ but she got the role only after “a popular female actor” refused it, director of the film, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury has said.

Aniruddha, however, did not divulge the name of the actor who rejected the role of ‘Meenal Arora.’

At a discussion in the 23rd Kolkata International Film Festival, Nov. 16, director of the 2016 film was speaking on how it was made.

“I had narrated the story four and half years back to director-producer friend Shoojit Sircar on-board a flight and he was hooked to the idea. A popular female actor had refused to do the character which was ultimately given to Taapsee Pannu,” Aniruddha said.

The ‘Pink’ project got rolling when Amitabh Bachchan agreed to do the film after listening to the story only for 5 minutes at his residence, he said adding that the rest is history.

“A film happens when everyone starts believing in the subject. We see so many things around us every day, but do we react?” Aniruddha said.

‘Pink’ is a powerful statement on moral policing and the mindset of the country where men and women are judged by a different yardstick.

The director said his first film ‘Anuranan’ made in 2006 also talked about moral policing. “Actually, social element is an integral part of a film,” he said.

Aniruddha said he also felt strongly about his Bengali film ‘Buno Haansh’ made in 2014.

“I remember how a 20,000-strong crowd showered their affection to the film crew in Bangladesh which had been released in both Kolkata and Dhaka. ‘Buno Haansh’ will remain as much favorite to me as ‘Pink,’” he said.

To a question, he said a film maker cannot always work with the expectation that his or her every film will be a national award winner.

“You cannot always keep working that every product will meet the same quality benchmark in terms of expectations.

That every work should click, that every film will be a potential national award winner,” Aniruddha said.

“You should keep on experimenting in life,” Aniruddha, who is now based in Mumbai working on some upcoming projects, said.

“I had shifted to Mumbai from Kolkata as I was a little bit pained over the present situations but I won’t elaborate,” he said.