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Konkona Sensharma, Arjun Rampal to star in Aparna Sen’s The Rapist

The acclaimed filmmaker will be directing the film for the production house Banijay Asia.

Konkona Sensharma and Arjun Rampal

Konkona Sensharma and Arjun Rampal have been cast together in Aparna Sen’s next film, The Rapist. The Hindi language film will be produced for the production house Banijay Asia.

Sensharma was recently seen in Seema Pahwa’s Ramprasad Ki Tehrvi (2021), while Rampal kicked off the year with the Zee5 drama Nail Polish (2020) where he played a lawyer. The actor has already completed shooting for Abbas-Mustan's web-series Penthouse and is playing the antagonist in the action film Dhaakad with Kangana Ranaut.

Sensharma and Rampal were seen previously in Venod Mitra's anthology film Meridian Lines (2013), which followed seven troubled strangers. According to a press release, The Rapist is a hard-hitting drama that examines how society is responsible for producing rapists. It's about the victim's trauma, the circumstances, and how a woman deals with it.

Pre-production has begun and filming is expected to start in March.

Sen, an actress and filmmaker, has explored socio-political realities in her previous directorial ventures like 36 Chowringhee Lane (1981), Yuganta (1995) and Mr & Mrs Iyer (2002). This will be her third Hindi film after Saari Raat (2015) and Sonata (2017).

The filmmaker had earlier spoken about the growing number of rapes and assaults in the country. “Women never came forward to denounce their rapists because they knew it would be useless and it would be they who would be held responsible anyway. Often they would not speak up for fear of breaking up the family. Today, the situation has changed radically. There are strong laws in workplaces where sexual abuse is taken very seriously and strong action is taken against the perpetrators. Women are much more ready to come forward and denounce their rapists today,” she said.