Parineeti Chopra packs a powerful punch as Saina Nehwal’s ace badminton player in the biopic of the last one called ‘Saina’. The trailer was released on Monday, and gives us a glimpse into the player’s first year of struggle before she won an Olympic medal.
The film was directed by Amole Gupte and is set for a theatrical release on March 26th.
Actress Shraddha Kapoor was initially cast in the film but opted out and Parineeti took a step back.
At the release of the film’s trailer, when asked if she felt extra pressure to build a career that Kapoor had started preparing for, Chopra said she was only focused on playing the part as best she could. “I just had the weight and pressure of my leader. I wanted to influence and work hard to learn the sport. I didn’t take any pressure from the outside.
“The pressure was on me, my coach allowed what I was learning, my director allowed me to be what I look like on screen. There was no other pressure,” Chopra told reporters at the event.
Watch the trailer here
Supported by T-Series-led Bushan Kumar, ‘Saina’ celebrates the 32-year-old actor’s return to the big screen after his 2019 comedy ‘Jabariya Jodi’. Chopra said although under “great pressure” to deliver, the team benefited greatly with the access provided by Nehwal. “We had full support from Saina. She gave us a chance in her life. I would tell her, she called her a video and she would answer all my questions. That way there was better weight management.
“I was already under pressure to learn badminton, I wouldn’t have taken anything else. I would have fallen and I wouldn’t have focused. Doing ‘Saina’ is a challenge for me,” she said.
Chopra’s journey began with the film two years ago when she heard the report. Despite being familiar with the broad strokes of Nehwal’s life and achievements – from being the first Indian to win two Commonwealth gold single medals (2010 and 2018) to being a poster girl for badminton country – Chopra said the script was a revelation.
“Sir Amol spent time with the family and found out the real feelings. What the mother felt when Saina ate food, what the father felt when they had no money, what was the sister felt when she was training. scenes of the best player in the world. That was a success point for me, “she said.
This is Parineeti’s first attempt at a biopic. She was recently seen in a Netflix movie ‘The Girl on The Train’.
After appearing in several romantic comedies, from ‘Hasee Toh Phasee’, ‘Meri Pyaari Bindu’, to ‘Namaste England’, Chopra said she wanted to break the next-door girl image.
“I was looking for a challenge like this. The films I was making were largely an extension of me and also what writers and directors thought I was. When this film came into my life, I was looking to surprise everyone, do something I did ‘I don’t know. So a fun biopic of someone who still works is the very kind of job I would have done, even though it was fiction. Biopic was an added bonus, “she said.
‘Saina’ is due to be released to the theater on March 26.