Just when they thought it was a wrap, Sanjay Leela Bhansali flipped the script and returned to the set. Three weeks ago, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and Vicky Kaushal officially wrapped up Love & War as per schedule, but an insider informs mid-day that the perfectionist filmmaker was unhappy with the final product and decided to shoot additional portions of crucial war sequences.

Bhansali will “spend about a week” filming the battle portions at Welcome Maidaan in Goregaon. “He is extremely particular about how the war portions come together because they are integral to the film’s scale and emotional arc. Once he saw the material in the edit, he felt certain battle portions could be enhanced further,” shares a source close to the production.

The insider adds that they are not changing what has already been shot, but are simply “perfecting the sequence”.

The director had earlier shot extensively at Royal Palms in Goregaon during the final schedule of Love & War. Bhansali is personally overseeing the additional shoot, while simultaneously working on the edit.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali was also planning to shoot an additional song for ‘Love & War’, but that plan has been deferred indefinitely, informs a source

(From left) Manoj Joshi, Amit Rai, Milan Luthria, Onir and Raja Krishna Menon

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), the body responsible for regulating the public exhibition of films, has now changed the certification guidelines for films. Notified by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on September 16 under the Cinematograph Act 1952, the new rules make anti-drug warnings mandatory in films depicting narcotics, while also reiterating restrictions on violence, sensitive subjects and content that could affect India’s relations with other countries. The changes come alongside the Centre’s reconstitution of the CBFC with a new 18-member board. Here's what a few filmmakers and directors have to say about these new guidelines.

While I am against any form of censorship, cinema has a significant influence on society, and to that end, it is important for filmmakers to be cognisant of their responsibility while telling a story. Portraying society as one sees it, with all its beauty and its ills, and using cinema to initiate conversations around subjects, especially those that are considered taboo, is just as important as being mindful not to celebrate or excuse certain behaviours or acts. Ultimately, it comes down to the intention of the storyteller.

Any medium which we can see – films, social media or anything – the visual impact has a lost longing impact that in Natya Shastra Maharishi Bharat Muni said thousands of years ago. So, there should be a balance between creative liberty and its impact on society. We have liberty to express and does not mean serving anything in the name of creativity. There should first be self censorship on parinam aur dushparinam. So, the balance is most important considering its impact on society.”

There are quite a few guidelines by the CBFC so I’ll address the main points. The audience is smart enough to decide whether violence in a film is within acceptable parameters or not. If the audience thinks violence is being shown just for the sake of it without maintaining a balance of other parameters in the film, that’s for them to discern. What is too much for you may be okay for me, so it’s difficult to say how much is too much, everybody has a different opinion on what is acceptable. Which is why these guidelines won’t be easy to implement. We have already dealt with warnings about smoking, alcohol, animals, children who act in our films, but ultimately filmmaking is an art form and a filmmaker should be allowed to express themselves.

It’s very worrisome because it takes away from the fact that films have always been not just entertainment. There is one section which is just entertainment, but films are also about asking questions, wanting change and not basically glorifying the status quo for society. When you have these big terms as to what exactly defines ‘anti-national’ — is questioning the government, a political leader or religion anti-national? How is any of this anti-national or wrong? Because how come we do not have any kind of curbing of dialogue when it comes to all these things, like religion?

If we start writing a story with a menu card in the picture of what we can or cannot do, it will impact the process. While writing a story, I never think of anything, otherwise I wouldn’t have written a film like OMG 2. Creativity requires a free-flowing process, but if the system wants to safeguard the national interest, they are right in their way, but we are right too. We can always come to a middle ground. It’s just pehle jo logon galti kari, uska khamiyaza hum log bhugtenge. Although, if the intention is pure, even the system will understand.”

- Films will have to be more responsible and sensitive to values and standards of society.

- Films to not promote communal, obscurantist, anti-scientific or anti-national attitude.

- Films to not promote content that could strain India’s friendly relations with foreign states

- Scenes involving consumption or trafficking of narcotics and psychotropic substances must carry a warning

Certification changes now states that movies can receive one of the six certificates: U, UA 7+, UA 13+, UA 16+, A and S

With his Marathi film Gondhal selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars this year, filmmaker Santosh Davakhar is soaking in this "proud moment" for his entire team and family.

“It’s a really proud feeling. It’s the effort of my whole Gondhal team and great support from my family. It’s amazing to epresent your country at an international level. It feels like I am going to the Olympics,” he tells HT City exclusively.

The filmmaker says the idea behind Gondhal came from his experiences at international film festivals, particularly Cannes.

He continues, “I decided to make this film according to international taste. I wanted it to compete at that level. When I had been to festivals like Cannes, I found that the perception of Indian cinema is that our films are around poverty and casteism. I personally feel I should represent our country’s rich heritage and culture. That’s why I decided to make Gondhal,” he says.

He believes that his own struggles, first as a child labourer and then a filmmaker, also helped him understand and create his characters better.

“Aisa hai, director ko har struggle se jaana chahiye, aisa mera maana hai. Tabhi aap character ko samajh paate ho. Yes, I have gone through a lot of struggle. It reflects in every character I designed, that’s a great thing. Experience ka joda jab khulta hai, tab achhe characters nikalte hain. Vahi Gondhal ke saath hua hai,” he says.

Santosh earlier did a short course from the Film and Television Institute of India, while his time at Cannes film festival further influenced him.

“When I was at Cannes, I used to see three-four films every day. That compelled me to make a film like Gondhal,” he recalls.

The filmmaker is now looking forward to bringing it to audiences again, after an initial run in November last year, "Jaldi hi release hone wali hai, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada mein. OTT ya mobile pe dekhne layak nahi hai. Jitnon ne bhi dekhi, kaha OTT pe mat dekho, theatres mein dekho. Pehla shot one take, 26 minutes ka hai. It will astonish you,” he says.

Gondhal, he reveals, revolves around “desire, deception. And the Gondhal ritual which is the pride of Maharashtra.”

As for the Oscars campaign, Santosh says preparations are already underway. “We have already hired a social media team from Finland. And a media PR from Los Angeles, she is very good. In the last 20 years, she has worked on 27 films that were nominated. We know how we are going to represent our country at the international level,” he says.

For him, the selection is also a significant moment for Marathi cinema, “It’s a big win for regional cinema. A Marathi film, after 11 years, is going for the Oscars.”

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Actor Ishita Deshmukh is over the moon after her debut film, Gondhal, was announced the official entry from India to the Oscars 2027. The Film Federation of India, the body responsible for sending India's official entry to the Academy, announced that the Marathi film, directed by Santosh Davakhar, will be submitted in the Best International Feature Film category.

Speaking to HT City, Deshmukh, 27, shares her excitement. "I am still processing... It was a normal day, and since Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations are on, we have Gauri Pujan at my house. And suddenly, I get this news. This is a surreal feeling. All my relatives are home, and everyone is just watching the news," says an elated Deshmukh.

Deshmukh is filled with gratitude and emotion as she tries to catch her breath and find the right words to express her feelings.

"I feel so grateful to be part of a film that represents Maharashtrian culture and Indian filmmaking. Every actor and filmmaker has this big dream that you have to go to the Oscars. Our director, Santosh Davakhar, has dreams. But today, I can say that he makes his dreams come true, and I was a part of it," says Deshmukh.

The actor, while recalling the process of how she landed the role, remembers how she was "praying to god" to get a role.

"All I can say is that I am blessed. I auditioned for this role, and at that time I was just praying to god to give me a place so that I could work hard, and he gave me Gondhal," says an emotionally overwhelmed Deshmukh.

It is not just a big moment for the actor, but she shares that her parents are also on cloud nine after seeing the news. "They are all really happy. My mom and dad both know about the Oscars. My grandmother doesn't know what the Oscars are. I was explaining it to her, and she saw my name and picture come on the television," she adds.

Looking back at the years of struggle, Deshmukh believes that all the difficulties she has been through have helped her to become the artiste she is today.

"All those years have shaped me into who I am right now. It has a lot to do with the kind of artiste I have become. When life happens to you, you are able to channel it through your art. There was a phase when some of the things were not working out, and I know that it is a part of life, and one doesn't exist without the other. These lessons are just a gift of life," she ends.

In the late summer of 1947, as the British empire unspooled into the blood and panic of Partition, Nikkhil Advani’s ancestors left Sindh on a commercial flight. They were not among the millions crammed onto wooden train roofs or marching through the dust of the Punjab; his father, Suresh, was an infant, born in 1946 into an affluent, well-connected Sindhi family in Karachi and Hyderabad. When his great-grandfather sensed the geopolitical tides turning, he booked tickets, gathered the family, and flew to Bombay. They landed unmaimed, stepped off the tarmac, and walked straight into the cold, levelling reality of displacement.

On the journey, Advani’s grandfather carried a heavy money belt strapped around his waist. But the cash was not his. He worked for Habib Bank, which was shifting its headquarters to Karachi at Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s behest, and had been entrusted to deliver the funds to its Bombay branch. He handed over every rupee. For Advani’s grandmother, Lila, the story was a testament to her husband’s unyielding integrity—though during the lean years that followed, she would occasionally wonder aloud how different their lives might have been had he simply kept it.

The family’s fortune was gone. In the single-room flat on Raghavji Road that they lived in, Advani’s grandmother nursed no soft, weeping nostalgia for lost estates; she wanted her sons to work towards careers in engineering, and demanded flawless academic credentials.

“I don’t want to belittle those who suffered the horrors of migration by pretending their pain is mine,” Advani says. “My family was fortunate. But the atmosphere in that one-room flat was defined by a single imperative: every generation must outperform the last.”

Growing up in the comfortable, cosmopolitan Bombay of the 1980s—his father by then a corporate executive in a pharmaceutical firm—young Advani initially tuned out his grandmother’s constant monologues about Partition. “To a kid in a safe, prosperous city, it felt like an endless lecture,” he admits. “My reaction was, ‘Who cares? I’m not struggling.’ It took 30 years to realize those weren’t history lessons; they were meant to remind us of how we had built – rebuilt – everything from scratch.”

When Advani announced his intention to forgo a conventional career for the unstable world of Hindi cinema, his grandmother viewed it as sheer madness. How could making movies constitute a proper profession? What she may not have realized just then was Partition wasn’t this family’s only inheritance. A deep love for cinema may have been handed down genetically, too. Advani’s grandfather, the one who had guarded the bank’s cash through that trip from Karachi, had a Friday ritual: he would leave his jacket draped over his office chair so that his manager would assume he’s around, while he slipped out to catch a matinee.

Besides, Advani’s true artistic education unfolded outside formal classrooms. After studying at St Xavier’s College and taking a film appreciation course at FTII, he served an apprenticeship alongside the fiercely political, iconoclastic directors of 1990s Bombay—Saeed Mirza, Kundan Shah, and Sudhir Mishra. These were sets where filmmaking was treated as social inquiry rather than commercial gloss. Nights were spent in messy apartments listening to Hindustani classical records and late-night ghazals; Mishra once dragged him to a gathering at Shekhar Kapur’s house where Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan sang until daybreak. Advani absorbed the music, the politics, and the intellectual friction without quite knowing where to put them.

“When you’re young, you’re like a sponge,” he says. “You don’t always have the context for what you’re taking in, but it stays somewhere inside you. Then, years later, something happens and you realize, ‘Oh, I heard this before. I saw this before. I was around this before.’”

That delayed understanding eventually collided with his work as a director. When Advani turned his camera to history, he eschewed monumental hagiography in favour of panicky, unscripted friction. In Freedom At Midnight, his epic streaming chronicle adapted from Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre’s book, Independence arrives through argument, and administrative absurdity—where bureaucrats haggle over splitting railways, treasuries, and even the instruments of a police band in Lahore.

At the centre of the storm, the architects of Indian independence—Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Jinnah, Mountbatten—are stripped of their textbook composure. They sweat in humid rooms. They operate in a lacuna of intelligence.

“Today, we have the privilege of hindsight,” Advani, now 55, observes. “Eighty years later, it is easy to debate what a statesman ought to have done. But in 1947, they were flying blind—there was no precedent, no telemetry, no script. I wanted the audience to be there with them, without knowing what was going to happen.”

That idea also drove The Revolutionaries, adapted from Sanjeev Sanyal’s book. The series turns its lens toward armed anti-colonialists like Rash Behari Bose, Bagha Jatin, and Sachindra Nath Sanyal, whose militant struggles were largely swallowed by official Congress narratives. Yet rather than reducing them to violent zealots, Advani recovers their intellectual world—their debates over Irish resistance, poetry, and philosophy, alongside the quiet, personal sacrifices of women like Pratibha Lahiri.

“I knew after Freedom At Midnight that critics would point at the stories I have left out,” Advani says. “In modern India, if you leave a vacuum in historical storytelling, someone may fill it with cheap propaganda. My job isn’t to hand out moral verdicts, though of course I pull the frame toward the people I admire. My job is to resurrect the volatility of the moment before the history books froze it in place.”

That insistence on context over caricature met its stiffest test in his portrayal of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Freedom At Midnight drew both sharp praise and fierce pushback for humanising the founder of Pakistan.

“Before Jinnah was the Quaid-e-Azam, he was just a Bombay guy,” Advani says. “And he wanted to be in Bombay even as he governed Pakistan. I found that incredibly interesting.”

He has watched that fluid relationship with the past extend to his own filmography. Younger audiences now dissect his earlier mainstream hits like Kal Ho Naa Ho or Chandni Chowk To China through entirely modern lenses—sometimes with nostalgia, sometimes with utter bewilderment.

“The people asking me for a Chandni Chowk sequel today were four years old when it was released,” he laughs. “They didn’t care about narrative structure; they just saw Akshay Kumar [who plays a chef in the film] fighting a giant potato and somehow it worked for them.”

Films wait intact for the next generation; family memory does not. With that in mind, on his father Suresh’s 80th birthday this year, after the release of the second season of Freedom At Midnight, the family invited Gitanjali Chandrasekharan’s Talered, a platform that specializes in customised oral histories, to help them document their vanishing memories of Sindh. The result, a custom-made coffee-table book with a record of survival, food, family jokes, and small evasions, was then gifted to family members.

DAAYRA had a poor first day collecting around 1-1.10 crore nett as the film had nothing for the youth audience. But the main issue was that it did not really push forward in the evenings also. It remains to be seen if the film can get any worthwhile growth on Saturday and it has a BOGO offer to help which was not there on the first day. However, the competition had an offer on the first day and hence, this was probably coming.

The film could have suffered a little with less screenings at PVR as they distributed the other film VIBE though films like DAAYRA are driven by the PVR chain. But at the end of the day, these are minor hiccups and the main issue is the film looked too dry from the trailer. Moreover, such stuff is all over on television today which makes it less attractive to the cinema going audience. The film had a Malayalam version also as the male lead is from that industry but the collections were negligible.

VIBE did a little better than DAAYRA as it collected 1.85 crore nett apprx but had an offer of 50% discounted rates and with a DAAYRA at a little over 1 crore nett it makes the 1.85 crore nett actually respectable if it came without the offer. Here you cant really tell what is the fair value for the film and the offer will have to be held on Saturday to ensure growth.

This film gave a more entertainment feel than DAAYRA due to comedy but its like a spoof and these films you can rule out in North, Central and Eastern markets. Its mainly about Mumbai and South and today that South is probably just Mysore for smaller films. This type of comedy has nothing for the masses an hence, the core Hindi circuits don't get an audience. The film has done much better in cities like Mumbai and Pune comparatively and it remains to be seen how it grows on Saturday.

MIRZAPUR THE MOVIE had a very good second weekend as it picked up 35 crore nett which is a 60% plus drop from last weekend. The film had an excellent Friday but the trend could have been stronger but it was a muted weekend in terms of trend. This maybe down to the Ganpati period coming or just one of those weekends.

The film still looks on course for that 200 crore nett total after two weeks though strong growth would have made this a certainty. Now its about where the film holds over the weekdays. The total collections of the film are now 180 crore nett in ten days with North India and Bihar still giving heavy contribution. Delhi/UP has hit the 50 crore nett mark and Mumbai should also reach there by the end of the week.

The collections of MIRZAPUR THE MOVIE till date are as follows.

Friday - 25,50,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 31,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 35,00,00,000 apprx

Monday - 16,25,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 14,75,00,000 apprx

Wednesday - 12,25,00,000 apprx

Thursday - 10,25,00,000 apprx

Friday - 9,25,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 13,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 13,00,00,000 apprx

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MIRZAPUR THE MOVIE will have a good second week but collections have slowed over the last two days as well the Saturday and Sunday growth was less than expected. The film collected 5 crore nett on Tuesday which was a little lower than Monday but it is that Ganpati week and hence, this can happen with collections.

The other film, HANUMAN ANSH, was flat on Tuesday as well. So, the discounted Tuesday being weak this is more of an external thing. It was also an official holiday on Monday in many states although the collections of the films did not show that and that could be the reason for a weak Tuesday also. MIRZAPUR THE MOVIE will show a drop on Wednesday and it remains to be seen how much this drop is.

The film has so far collected 45.50 crore nett in its second week and its probably looking at around 53 crore nett for the week which is a lower number than you would have expected after that 9 crore nett plus number on Friday. The film will have to wait for the 200 crore nett mark till its third Friday now. After 12 days, the film has collected a little over 190 crore nett.

The collections of MIRZAPUR THE MOVIE till date are as follows.

Friday - 9,25,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 13,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 13,00,00,000 apprx

Monday - 5,25,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 5,00,00,000 apprx

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MIRZAPUR THE MOVIE had a very good second week collecting 53 crore nett which is the third best second week collection of the year after DHURANDHAR THE REVENGE and BORDER 2 though it could have been a little better as the film had a strong second Friday. As a result, it should have seen better collections.

Still the film has 198 crore nett up on the board though even here it should have been 200 crore nett plus but it should go through this barrier on its third Friday. The film has two releases to contend with this week. So, there is bound to be a drop on the third Friday though the main competition is likely to remain HANUMAN ANSH.

The film had underperformed a little in Mumbai circuit in the first week and then the Ganpati period in the second week has affected collections further here. This will mean that film will do far better in Delhi/UP than Mumbai and not just comparatively as what circuit ratios should be but in terms of gross as well. It could that be that by the end of the run Delhi/UP could be around 8-10 crore nett higher than Mumbai.

The collections of MIRZAPUR THE MOVIE till date are as follows.

Friday - 9,25,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 13,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 13,00,00,000 apprx

Monday - 5,25,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 5,00,00,000 apprx

Wednesday - 3,75,00,000 apprx

Thursday - 3,75,00,000 apprx

The devotional film, HANUMAN ANSH, created more history as it recorded 54-55 crore nett sixth weekend and then crossed the 200 crore nett mark on Sunday which was the 38th day of its run. The film now stands at almost 203 crore nett and there is a lot more to come. The sixth weekend is the highest weekend of its run till date and it cant be judged that will this be the highest weekend or is there a bigger weekend to come.

It remains to be seen if the sixth week goes on to be bigger than the fifth week and it would not surprise one bit if it does. The fifth week collected a huge 84 crore nett and HANUMAN ANSH needs around 35 crore nett in the weekdays to top that figure. The highest sixth week on record is DHURANDHAR's first part with 23 crore nett while with films on multiple languages, KANTARA's first part at 35 crore nett is the highest. Meanwhile, HANUMAN ANSH is already at 49 crore nett in just 3 days of week six.

The Sunday collections of the film are similar to last Sunday and it will be known later if they actually beat last Sunday or fall a little short. The film is a HISTORIC BLOCKBUSTER and second biggest HIT of the year after DHURANDHAR THE REVENGE but its still an unknown where it will finally land as the drops have not come as yet.

The collections of HANUMAN ANSH till date are as follows.

Friday - 10,25,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 18,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 21,00,00,000 apprx

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The devotional film, HANUMAN ANSH, had a strong hold on Monday dropping a little over 20% from Friday but this is the weakest trend for the film so far in its run. A 20% drop in Monday is an extraordinary result for most films but here it could mean the film has hit its peak and now will start to see lesser collections.

The film collected 8 crore nett which takes the total collections of the film to 210 crore nett and its looking like a sixth week of 80 crore nett apprx. You still would not totally write it off doing as much as the 84 crore nett of last week but it looks difficult. The film will be looking at a total of around 235 crore nett after six weeks and then it remains to be seen how much it can after. The film should do be able to cross 300 crore nett though will depend on where the seventh Friday lands.

The film is extraordinary in Delhi/UP, East Punjab, Rajasthan and CI. Delhi/UP will be at around 60 crore nett at the end of the week and East Punjab will be have crossed 25 crore nett by the end of the week while CI which maybe best of all. It would be touching the collections of BORDER 2 by the end of the week.

The collections of HANUMAN ANSH till date are as follows.

Friday - 10,25,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 18,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 20,75,00,000 apprx

Monday - 8,00,00,000 apprx

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The devotional film, HANUMAN ANSH, saw the first big drop of its run on its sixth Wednesday as it picked up 5 crore nett. This collection means the best collections are now done and some sort of assessment can be made where the film is going and its probably looking at a close in the 300 crore nett range if it follows a normal trajectory from here.

The film has collected 223 crore nett so far and the week will probably end up at 228 crore nett. The film still needs another 70 crore nett to get to 300 crore nett. Hence, the Friday has to hold well. Not that it matters much if the film does a little over 300 crore nett or a little less as its a phenomenal HIT and nothing has ben seen like this for over 50 years.

The weekly records are likely to continue for a few weeks more as it has smashed the sixth week record by a distance and will double the business of a film like KANTARA (2022) which did 35 crore nett on multiple versions in week six and here its just one Hindi version.

The collections of HANUMAN ANSH till date are as follows.

Friday - 10,25,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 18,00,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 20,75,00,000 apprx

Monday - 8,00,00,000 apprx

Tuesday - 8,00,00,000 apprx

Wednesday - 5,00,00,000 apprx

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HANUMAN ANSH is heading for more records in week seven as it collected around 4.75-5 crore nett which takes the film to 235 crore nett. DHURANDHAR (2025), which holds the record for the highest seventh week at almost 12 crore nett, may well be covered in just two days. KANTARA, which holds the record with multiple versions at 16 crore nett, will be covered in three days.

These records will continue for the next few weeks and it may well be that the film is setting records as far as week ten goes but the target for the film looks to be to cross 300 crore nett. Although it should get there, it is not locked. All it takes is one major drop like it had on Wednesday and then the 300 crore nett mark becomes tough.

The film is an insane BLOCKBUSTER and stands up there with JAI SANTOSHI MAA (1975) as far as films in this devotional/mythological zone goes. It wont quite be a JAI SANTOSHI MAA but there is a second part to come and that will have the potential to surpass even JAI SANTOSHI MAA going by the appreciation for this the first part of HANUMAN ANSH.

The collections of HANUMAN ANSH till date are as follows.

Friday - 4,85,00,000 apprx

HAIWAAN had a horrible first weekend with collections of only 6.50 crore nett as it was a downward slope after a disastrous first day. The first day was not a huge surprise as a film which has very little interest competes with two films doing exceedingly well, then your 4-5 crore can easily become 2-3 crore.

The reports were negative but that should not lead to this downward trajectory at these low levels. However, because of the competition and generally growth being a bit muted this weekend led to this further downfall in collections. Sunday was only 1.75 crore nett and with this result its going to be difficult for the film to collect even 1 crore nett on Monday.

The film has the cushion of strong non theatrical deals. Especially for the type of content, it is of almost 80 crore. But can the 60 crore for digital hold after such disaster theatrical results for the box office remains to be seen. It will be a godsend if it can as theatrical recovery is practically nothing.

The collections of HAIWAAN for the first weekend are as follows

Friday - 2,50,00,000 apprx

Saturday - 2,25,00,000 apprx

Sunday - 1,75,00,000 apprx

Actor Purnima Tiwari, who essays the role of Ram Beti Devi wife of Neeb Karori Baba, popularly known as Maharaj Ji in the devotional drama Hanuman Ansh, calls it “universe’s planning” to get her on board.

Speaking to us, Tiwari says, “It was in 2024 that I got myself an idol of Baba when I had visited Kainchi Dham, also known as Neem Karori Ashram. Since then, it has been part of my everyday prayers at home. In 2025, I was shooting for the television show Pyar Ki Raahein and I got this script, auditioned nahin de pa rahi thhi, but then I read the script and had that instant connection. I couldn’t believe for a while that within a year’s time I got to be part of a film that is about Baba himself.”

“That same day, I made my audition tape and shared it with the team. I went near Baba’s idol and questioned myself, ‘Kya main is role ko karne ki paatr bhi hoon?’ The answer was within me that this is your karma, just do your job, send the tape, and leave the rest to God. And then I got a nod from the director to join the shoot in a day’s time” she adds.

On doing the role entirely without any remuneration, she shares, “I didn’t want to mention it, but I strongly felt it was a call from Baba, so how could I ask for money? I did it without any remuneration. Other than that, yes, the team paid for my travel and stay, so that too was enough for me because I don’t know—bas mujhe yeh role karna tha. After over ten years in the industry, I got to do a film that is all about devotion and something that had my heart. On the day of my shoot, I was just on set without any food, just staying on water, because in my head it was about completing my job to my best, khana peena hota rahega,” concludes the actor, known for projects like Ghum Hai Kisikey Pyaar Meiin, Choona, and Raat Akeli Hai.

She says, "I am a Kodava and speak Kodava Takk, we don't have an industry for my mother tongue. So language has never been a barrier in my career. I treat all languages as my own. My fans who I call my family first suggested, why don't you do a Telugu film, it was the same with Hindi, and that's how my trajectory grew."

The actor says she does not pay attention to unnecessary chatter about her accent when it comes to films but chooses to focus on giving her role her.

"As an actor my job is to tell good stories on set and come back. With every film I believe the best of us are there to create something magical. I stick to my job and the end result is a compilation of all these energies coming together. I don't like stepping on someone's toes, I just focus on giving my best performance as an actor. I concentrate on delivering my best performance as an actor. Other things are not relevant.”."