Alankrita Shrivastava is a director and screenwriter, whose 2016 film Lipstick Under My Burkha received widespread praise. She co-wrote and directed episodes of Amazon’s Made In Heaven, assisted on films such as Gangajal and Rajneeti, and more recently directed the film Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare.

In this interview with Manisha Pande, Alankrita talks about how her experience at Jamia Millia Islamia University shaped her as a filmmaker, her thoughts on the current discourse about the university, and the ongoing Bollywood witch hunt in connection with the investigation into actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

Alankrita starts off with how the characters of Dolly and Kitty emerged in her film Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare. “Dolly and Kitty would not have existed anywhere but Greater Noida,” she says, explaining how the city takes them on an internal journey.

Manisha asks if the characters are modelled on the women Alankrita has met. “I do feel a lot of affinity for working-class women, women who don’t have that much privilege, because I feel like financial need changes many things, like how you’re living your life and all that,” Alankrita says. “It’s not modelled on any women I have met. Dolly is a little bit, I think, I have referred to Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House.”

Alankrita adds that her thoughts are shaped by what she reads. “I guess I do draw a lot from life. I don’t even know if it’s news, I feel it’s just the human texture of things,” she says. “For me, I feel who you are and how you view the world — it’s intrinsic to your personal choice...Personal and political is really one, in a certain sense.”

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