Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; February 6, 2018)

A week after wrapping up the first schedule of his upcoming horror-comedy, Stree, in Chanderi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajkummar Rao has already kicked off preparation for the second leg. The actor tells mid-day that he has been learning the local language of the town, a mix of Hindi and Khariboli.

Rao, who plays a resident of the town, says, “Prepping for a horror-comedy is interesting, yet challenging. It was great to interact with the locals of Chanderi to learn the language and their mannerisms for my character. It was a fantastic experience.”

Given that Rao banks on his image of being an artiste who goes to several lengths to bring authenticity to his character, cinephiles can expect him to ace his pronunciation for this outing. A source says that he has been putting in a minimum of two hours a day to perfect the dialect. “He has been practicing the pronunciation with the locals for two to three hours daily. Raj has also been communicating with them in the language throughout the day so they can correct him when he falters with the articulation,” says the source. Rao will also need to communicate in Bhojpuri, a language he is familiar with, but will be brushing up on his accent.

Stree, also featuring Shraddha Kapoor, is based on an urban legend set in the small town. Given that Chanderi holds historical importance, it makes for an ideal set-up to film the horror.