With her latest film, ‘Gandhari’, writer-producer Kanika Dhillon says her intent was to reinvent the mythological character from the Hindu epic, Mahabharat, as someone who fights her own battle in the contemporary world.

Set against the backdrop of a fictitious town, Joypurra, the film follows the story of Bani, played by Taapsee Pannu, whose desperate search for her abducted daughter draws her into a far more dangerous reality than she could have imagined, a PTI report from Mumbai said yesterday.

The film, which is directed by Devashish Makhija, best known for critically-acclaimed titles such as ‘Ajji’, ‘Bhonsle’ and ‘Joram’, is penned by Dhillon.

“I didn’t want to retain the core of Gandhari that we have been shown in the Mahabharat, that’s why I tried to reinvent her in my own world, in my own Kurukshetra,” Dhillon told PTI in an interview.

‘Gandhari’ is presently streaming on Netflix.

Dhillon has written in the past strong women-oriented projects like ‘Rashmi Rocket’, ‘Haseen Dillruba’, and ‘Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba’.

Though in the Mahabharat Gandhari is associated with devotion to husband Dhritarashtra, Dhillon wanted to move beyond the familiar mythological interpretation.

“In Mahabharata, Gandhari was accused of not fulfilling her duty towards her children; her world was defined by her husband, she had blindfolded herself and never looked at the outside world.

“While she is often placed on a pedestal for the immense devotion and self-surrender she showed towards her husband. Today, I find that unacceptable and I don’t agree that a woman can be devoted to her husband completely,” she added.

The genesis of the story, however, did not come from solely mythology but from her deeply personal emotion of motherhood, said the writer-producer, who is also a mother to a five-year-old son.

“I felt that a mother possesses a divine power within her, a force that drives her to cross any boundary if her child is in danger.

As an artist, I found this to be a powerful emotion; and it made me want to pour it on paper and craft a story around it,” Dhillon said, explaining that the idea to give a twist to Mahabharat’s Gandhari came later.

“I used to think, how much more she (Gandhari) could do, but she didn’t do it, she didn’t get the chance. So, this time, in this story, Gandhari should get the chance, and she should take things into her own hands and fulfill her duty and fight her own battle,” she added.

Gandhari also gave Dhillon the opportunity to try her hands on the action genre.

“I watch good, bad, ugly, I watch every and any action film. Like, I’ve watched John Wick movies. Action is very technical and requires a different skill set to be able to imagine it and then put it on paper.

“I enjoy visualising it a lot; my key moments must be defined. So, when I was ready with this story, then only I wanted to dive into it (action). I like thriller genre, and I usually do a genre bender, I do things that I enjoy and predictability bores me,” she added.

While Pannu is main protagonist of ‘Gandhari’, the other cast members include Ishwak Singh, Mita Vashisht, Swastika Mukherjee, Chhaya Kadam, Jatin Sarna, Prashant Narayanan (as the main villain of the show), Chandan Roy, Vishwanath Chatterjee and Priti Shroff. (Image courtesy Kanika Dhillion Instagram account)