The colours white and black have traditionally conveyed distinct visual messages in movies. While white is generally used to signify peace and neatness, black has been burdened with the label of chaos and dirt. Even in the case of the city of Agra, the first image that comes to mind is of the pristine Taj Mahal, a white wonder of the world. Priyanka Bose, who stars in Kanu Behl's upcoming film, Agra, believes the city is more than just the Taj Mahal. "When you take your eyes away from the Taj Mahal, you can see an entire city where people are cramped for space, and they are struggling to survive."
Agra, directed by Kanu Behl, is about a man’s manic journey to find a room and a woman’s calculated ordeal to survive. Priyanka plays Priti, a polio-afflicted owner of an internet cafe, who is trying to survive the mean world. "She is very calculative, and a loner. I have played her extremely masculine, and she values her dignity and her autonomy over anything else. It is the cafe that gives her autonomy, and she will do anything to preserve and protect it. And the odds are stacked against her," says Priyanka, explaining how the lives of the characters played by her and debutant actor Mohit Agarwal, come together. “She values dignity because she wasn’t given any by the opposite sex. So she isn’t someone who will let a person into her life that easily. Guru has a house, and she wants one, and through this basic need, their relationship blossoms.”
But beyond the transactional nature of their characters, Agra also unabashedly portrays the sexuality of men and women. Guru, a single man living with his family, tries to get a room built, but he is also a volatile man whose manic paranoia leads to his desires going beyond their limits, until Priti comes into his life. “When you understand the manicness of Guru’s environment, you understand why the fantasy takes over. His reality is repressed,” says Priyanka, adding, “ Indian men are very repressed in terms of sexuality. They are not tutored very well on understanding women and women’s sexuality.”
Talking about how marriages are built on conditions and compromises, Priyanka says, “The way that conversations around marriage have been shaped is around the word compromise. A lot of our mothers and aunts suffer through marriages because, at the end of the day, they did not want to be seen as a liability.” She adds, “Specifically in the working-class environment, you hear this a lot, even though it is the woman who is on top of everything. So even in Guru and Priti’s dynamic, you might think that Priti is submissive, but she is the one controlling the decisions for both of them.”
Agra also features scenes that have been shot in busy areas of the city. The sync sound shooting technique, which captures dialogues and the surrounding sounds in real time was used. “India is a hard country to shoot sync sound, so a director has to choose a team that understands the effort. But I wasn’t worried about not having agency. I was only worried about conveying the message through nonverbal language. Because in representing sexuality, the smallest of errors can change entire meanings. So having a good team to support me really elevated the experience.”
The film, in its objective to portray a raw portrait of the city, errs on the side of caution in terms of political correctness. “We live in such an environment, and when you are representing India, not everyone is politically correct, which also includes our political leaders,” justifies Priyanka, adding, "For an artist, it is not only about showcasing my craft, but it is also about evolving with the times. But I only focus on getting the emotion of the character right, and not about political correctness.”
Agra premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight section at the Cannes Film Festival 2023. It also went on to win the Special Jury Award at Mumbai Academy of Moving Images 2023, the IFFM Award for Best Indie Film and Best Actor at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne in 2023, and Best Film and Best Actor awards at the 2024 New York Indian Film Festival. Speaking about the reception of her film in these festivals, Priyanka says, "The magic of being engaged in the whole process of the festivals is finding your own network. You are able to understand both the art side and the commerce side of cinema at a deeper level. That engagement is very exciting when you travel with the film to different festivals. With OTT, you are saving your energy."
Also starring Mohit Agarwal, Rahul Roy, Ruhani Sharma, and Vibha Chibber, Agra is set to release theatrically on November 14. Speaking of her upcoming projects, Priyanka will be seen in Chandan Roy Sanyal’s The Playback Singer. She has also done a dystopian short in Los Angeles with Ragini Desai. Speaking about the short, “Ragini wanted me for who I am because I understood the language of the film, and was sure about me. Those are the kind of projects I want to do, where my presence isn’t questioned.”
