Nikhil Nagesh Bhat explores strength of 'a girl-next-door' through thriller Apurva

Director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat says he wanted his latest film Apurva to be a cautionary tale for those who consider women “the weakest link” of society.

To drive the message home, the writer-filmmaker said he conceived the Chambal-set story as a thriller as he believes the genre is consumed a lot by the audience.

Starring Tara Sutaria in the title role, Apurva is the story of an ordinary woman who faces extraordinary circumstances and will do anything to survive. The film also features Abhishek Banerjee, Rajpal Yadav, and Dhairya Karwa. “In a film like Apurva, our society is misogynistic. What I wanted to tell (with this film) is that ‘don’t think women are the weakest link’. Don’t treat them like that because you never know if a woman rises you’re in for trouble. “If that message needs to be told in a way that’s acceptable that’s why it’s a thriller because it’s (a genre) that you consume a lot. That’s the kind of films which I want to say,” Bhat said in an interview.

The filmmaker, whose another thriller Kill received rave reviews at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), said he wrote the script for Apurva back in 2009.

Apurva will arrive on Disney+ Hotstar on November 15.