The Rapist

The Rapist is a 2021 Indian Hindi drama film, written and directed by Aparna Sen, that premiered at 26th Busan International Film Festival. A Quest Films Pvt. Ltd. production, produced under the banner of Applause Entertainment, stars Konkona Sen Sharma, Arjun Rampal and Tanmay Dhanania. The film chronicles the journey of three protagonists, whose lives are interlaced because of one horrific incident.

Cast

Konkona Sen Sharma as Naina Malik
Arjun Rampal as Aftab Malik
Tanmay Dhanania as Prasad Singh
Ashok Chhabra as Naina's Father
Anindita Bose as Malini, colleague of Naina
Harleen Rekhi
Gitanjali Rao as rapist's mother
Vijay Kumar Dogra as police inspector
Chetan Sharma as Latif, slum gang leader
Sukesh Arora as Subhash, Aftab’s lawyer friend
Semma Azmi as Savitri, Naina's maid
Devika Prasad as Nurse in Nursing Home

Production

Aparna Sen while writing script for her 3rd Hindi film The Rapist, said "What drew me to this is the psychology of the three main protagonists. Stripping off the layers and carefully built up facades to get to the real person underneath is quite a challenge and a fascinating process." Pre-production work of the film began in February 2021 with finalization of cast and producers. The filmmaker Aparna Sen in her pre-production interview said, The Rapist will be a “hard-hitting drama that examines how much of society is responsible for producing rapists.” Principal photography began in early March 2021 in Delhi. Arjun Rampal finished his part of shooting in the 3rd week of March. The film was wrapped up in first week of April 2021.

Release

The Rapist had its premiere at 26th Busan International Film Festival on 7 October 2021, under the 'A Window on Asian Cinema' section, where it was a joint winner of the
Kim Jiseok award, alongside the 2021 Philippine Japanese sports biographical film Gensan Punch.

Reception

Richard Kuipers of Variety praising the direction of Aparna Sen wrote, "One of the best works directed by veteran filmmaker-actor Aparna Sen". And appreciating screenplay he wrote, "The great strength of Sen’s screenplay is the realistic manner in which it depicts Naina and Aftab’s reactions to events that challenge firmly held beliefs and threaten their marriage." Kuipers opined about the film, “The Rapist is a deeply affecting portrait of personal trauma and an intelligent examination of social and cultural factors fueling the horrifying prevalence of sexual violence in India." Criticizing visuals of the film, he said, "The only real imperfections to the film are visual, with some scenes being drained of most color for no immediately apparent reason."