Roaring for attention

This ‘Sherni’ of Bollywood says we can’t choose between development and environment, a message she is trying to convey through her character of a forest officer in the upcoming movie

Sheetal

Vidya Balan, who embodies the spirit of a tigress, takes another leap with an exciting message-oriented film, Sherni, making her intention to break the stereotypes crystal clear.

Releasing on June 18 on Amazon Prime Video, it’s yet another outing after Shakuntala, which was well-received by critics as well the audience.

Calling her character in Sherni as a woman of few words but strong will and resilience, Vidya is excited as well as nervous as the D-day is closing in.

After giving commercial and critical successes like The Dirty Picture, Kahaani, Mission Mangal and Shakunatala Devi, she says, “I have never called my movies to be message-driven as the purpose of a movie is to entertain the audience. But Sherni is a project which does carry a special message. We all need to think about forests. We cannot choose between development and environment. The idea is to co-exist and we have to make efforts on our own.”

Directed by the Amit Masurkar of Newton fame, Sherni boasts of an ensemble cast, including Sharad Saxena, Mukul Chaddha, Vijay Raaz, Ila Arun, Brijendra Kala and Neeraj Kabi.

Prepping for the role, it was a memorable experience for Vidya when she was introduced to female forest officers from Madhya Pradesh. She adds, “They have been very patient and answered all my queries related to their job, the challenges they face and the passion they share for conservation. In fact, they were kind enough to share reading materials as well as documentary links which helped me prep for my role.”

And has the jungle changed her? “It has made me more comfortable in my mind. I had gone to jungle safaris before and it is not the big wild animals but the creepy crawlies that I was afraid of. But living and shooting in the jungle has helped me get rid of my fears.”

It was Vidya who shared this touching story with the Shakunatala Devi producer Vikram Malhotra, who immediately jumped on board. She says, “More than vision, it takes a little madness to bring a purpose-driven story for the audience. I am glad Vikram and everyone who is associated with Sherni were equally mad about this story to take it forward.”

Vikram adds, “Nature is the best teacher. Shooting in real locations, the problems and complication we face were also nature-driven, unpredicted. And while we had shot some of it before the pandemic, we couldn’t wait longer to bring it to the audience. We are thankful to the MP Tourism Board to help us shoot in the real jungles. Some of the people featured in movie are real forest officers. No VFX or artificial set would have justified our story about man-animal conflict.”

Sheo Shekhar Shukla, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Culture and Public Relations, calls Sherni a purposeful cinema. He says, “For Abundantia Entertainment (Vikram’s company) and Vidya, it’s a blind offer. I am happy that through this, audience will get to know about our forest heroes, not just DFOs (Divisional Forest Officer) but also guards and villagers, and the sacrifices they make to protect what’s dear to them. It will boost their confidence and do their job with double the conviction.”

Quote

“It is not that I am always trying to do women-centric or inspiring stories, it happens in the process which is an icing on the cake. I am at the centre of my universe, and if I get to play the same in a movie, it’s fantastic. I get to be the hero of the story, then why not? I pick compelling, unusual and irresistible stories, and true to the characters I choose.”- Vidya Balan

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Inspiring words

Wearing a tiger print dress for the launch of the title song Main Sherni on Tuesday, Vidya says her favourite line from the song is ‘Musibat ko aisa panja marenge’. Sung by Akasa, the rap part in the song has Raftaar’s voice.

Raftaar says, “To everyone who will listen to my song, my message is to keep on fighting and continue to inspire others.”