Shooting Shabaash Mithu with different director will not change much for me personally
Taapsee Pannu and the crew of her forthcoming film, Shabaash Mithu, were only a few days in to the film's first schedule when the second wave of the pandemic forced the makers to halt the shoot.
The actress had spent months polishing up her cricketing skills and getting the body gestures right for the biopic on Indian women's cricket team captain, Mithali Raj. In a recently available turn of events, director Rahul Dholakia, who has earlier helmed films like Raees and Lamhaa, bowed out of Shabaash Mithu, making method for filmmaker Srijit Mukherji, who has award-winning Bengali films like Gumnaami, Jaatishwar and Autograph and the Hindi film Begum Jaan to his credit.
Taapsee says, "It really is unfortunate that Rahul sir cannot become a part of the film. The pandemic played havoc with the schedules. It had been a mutual decision manufactured in the very best interest of the film. We'd only shot for six days. Right now, I don't really know what the plan is and how Srijit sir really wants to take this forward. I have no idea if he really wants to keep the portions already shot or would he prefer to reshoot them.
I am sure all that is considered." The actress, who's currently holidaying in Russia with sister Shagun, adds, "When I keep coming back from Russia, I want to meet him and discuss what's on his mind. We've been aiming to interact for several years and would discuss so a lot of things, but nothing had exercised. When I got to understand that he'll be directing Shabaash Mithu, I texted him saying how strange it really is that after all that people had discussed, it had been this special film that eventually brought us together."
Talking about heading back on the set, this time around with a fresh director, the actress shares, "I am wanting to go go back to the set. It could have already been tough to restart the film if we were too deep involved with it. Srijit sir can start wherever he deems fit. His entry will not change much for me personally, except that I might have to aim for a few extra days. From what I understand, we would have to await the rain to subside and start filming as that is a cricket-driven story."
Taapsee, trained by one of Mithali's friends and a specialist coach, started filming Shabaash Mithu in March when she was at the peak to be physically prepared for the role. Talking about getting back to prep mode before restarting the shoot, Taapsee says, "We'd only shot a few cricketing sequences of the time when Mithali was going to play international cricket.
