Sherni director Amit Masurkar deconstructs the Vidya Balan film: 'We are used to seeing the jungle with a colonial lens'

For an environmental thriller set in a jungle, Sherni is blissfully devoid of any creepy sound effects or sharp angles. Why did you consciously choose to steer clear of that approach?

We are used to seeing the jungle with a colonial lens — where it is shown as a dark, dangerous, and mysterious place. It was our conscious effort to look at the jungle with a native eye — as Mother Nature — accepting, open, warm, nurturing.

The lens on Sherni is refreshingly empathetic given the law of the land — survival of the fittest. The animals are tender and the physical attacks on humans are never shown. How do you explain this anti-Darwanian intervention?

There is a hilarious yet telling chase sequence of Brijendra Kala's character in his office, which is like a maze of tree-like racks overflowing with branch-like dusty official files. How did you conceive this bureaucratic jungle?

The idea of masculinity for Sharat Saxena's character is confined to hunting down the already slim population of tigers. Through an elusive tigress and an unrelenting woman forest officer, was your focus also on underlining the female-male balance, along with the man-beast balance?

From Malayali Christians to Muslim do-gooders, you populate your film with communities underrepresented in Hindi cinema. But do you think there could have been a more vocal local voice in the film, like Anjali Patil's character in Newton?

Speaking of Newton, how do you assess Vidya Vincent through the lens of 'the Newton law' — is she also held back because of the ghamand she has on her imanadari?