The actress puts her real-life proximity to kids to test as a mother-of-four on screen
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 21, 2017)

Mirror was the first to reveal (June 10) Ankur Bhatia’s look as Ibrahim Parkar, Shraddha Kapoor’s husband in Apoorva Lakhia’s Haseena Parkar biopic, in which she plays the titular character. Now, we’ve learnt that in a departure from her fun, youthful screen turns so far, Shraddha plays not just a wife but a mother of four in Haseena Parkar.

“It was easier to get her to play a 17-year-old but I also wanted to see if Shraddha was up for the challenge of ageing as the film spans 40 years. After the narration she told me she needed two days to think about my offer,” informs Apoorva, maintaining that the actress’s real-life closeness with her young cousin Vedika (actress-aunt Tejaswini Kolhapure’s daughter) made it easier for her to play mother onscreen. “There is a scene which was extended when we saw Shraddha cradle her screen kids to stop the crying. She is really patient and mature for her age. I remember her reading pregnancy books and paying attention to details like the way expectant mothers hold their backs.”

As part of the prep, the onscreen family was allowed a couple of hours to bond daily. “I ensured that they arrived two-three hours before shooting commenced. They hung out together, playing and talking to each other. We also instructed the real parents to not be around during the shoot,” he added.

Then, there was the task of determining how much weight she was to put on to chronicle four decades. “Haseena gets married at 17, which is followed by four kids. She turns a corner at 45. We shot the film in chronological order to capture the weight gain in the correct sequence,” Apoorva signs off.