Rajshri Deshpande: ‘Telling it (story) from woman’s perspective makes it urgent’

Rajshri Deshpande in the film

Over a year after her compelling performance in Trial By Fire (2023), Rajshri Deshpande will be seen in Gudgudi. Director Abhiroop Basu's short film has been selected for the 47th Odense International Film Festival that kicks off in the Denmark city by the month-end and will be screened on August 27, 29 and 31.

With Gudgudi, Basu examines the 2002 Gujarat riots from the lens of a mother-daughter duo. The director, who previously made short films Meal (2020) with Adil Hussain and Laali (2022) with Pankaj Tripathi, reveals that many shocking incidents came to his attention when he began researching the Gujarat riots. "I came across this shocking news report that more than 150 Hindu women were also raped and murdered. This led me to a moment of reckoning. Women don't have any religion; [to some], they are just flesh. This became the very lens from which I wanted to revisit the riots and share this true story," he says.

His approach to the story resonated with Deshpande. What struck the actor was that Basu had got rid of the unnecessary noise surrounding the episode. "Abhiroop decided to focus on a human story of survival against all odds. That he chose to tell it from a woman's perspective about the riots makes it fresh, urgent, and relevant," she says.