Director Anubhav Sinha says he decided to shoot his upcoming film Bheed in black and white as he wanted to draw parallels between the pandemic-led lockdown in the country and the 1947 Partition.
Lockdown led to a migrant exodus that was perhaps the largest movement of people since Partition and Sinha hopes to capture the "social disparity" in black and white.
The film features Rajkummar Rao, Pankaj Kapur, Bhumi Pednekar, Ashutosh Rana, and Dia Mirza in pivotal roles. It is jointly produced by Bhushan Kumar’s T-Series and Sinha’s Benaras Mediaworks.
"Bheed is a story of the most perilous times which changed everything for humanity. The key objective of shooting the film in black-and-white was to showcase how the visuals of the social disparity during India’s Lockdown were strikingly similar to what people went through during the 1947 India partition.
"This story is about people whose lives changed in a snap and the colors from their lives were lost when the border was drawn within the country," Sinha said in a statement.
Kumar said he is glad the team is able to bring a unique cinematic experience to the audience.
"'Bheed is a special film as it communicates the story of the toughest times people had to face just to reach their homes. It is a very important story and who better than Anubhav to direct it? The film has been shot in black and white as it depicts the struggle in our society that we often overlook. I'm glad that we are able to bring such an important story to our audiences with a unique cinematic experience," he said.
Bheed also features Virendra Saxena, Aditya Shrivastav, Kritika Kamra, and Karan Pandit. It is scheduled to be released theatrically on March 24.