Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 11, 2018)

Acclaimed writer Tushar Hiranandani, whose repertoire boasts of films like Dishoom, Ek Villain, ABCD 2 and Grand Masti, is now gearing up for his directorial debut with an Anurag Kashyap co-production. Titled Womaniya, the film is a biopic on the lives of the world’s oldest female sharpshooters — Chandro Tomar, 86, and her sister-in-law, Prakashi, 81 — who reside in the Johri village of Western Uttar Pradesh. While Taapsee Pannu was brought on board to play one of the protagonists recently, the makers are currently on the lookout for actors for the rest of the acting line-up.

The film is expected to go on the floors later this year. “The story of these two women conveys a strong message — that life can begin even after 50. Every time I am faced with a mid-life crisis, I am reminded of their stellar story,” lyricist Raj Shekhar who has penned six songs for the film, tells Mirror. For the last one year, he has been closely working with Tushar and composer Vishal Mishra to keep the film’s music rural yet peppy and contemporary.

Raj insists that the film, which is a light-hearted drama, will make the audience laugh as well as tear up. The lyricist was making his debut with Aanand L Rai’s 2011 blockbuster, Tanu Weds Manu, when he first met Anurag, who is also mentoring the script and the film. The Gangs of Wasseypur filmmaker had been so blown away by the script that he’d initially wanted to direct it himself.

Popularly known as the “Revolver Daadis”, Chandro and Prakashi first learnt of the sport when the former, then in her mid-50s, had accompanied her granddaughter to the Johri Rifle Club. The octogenarian-duo has since won over 100 medals in the veteran category across championships in the north zone and at pre-nationals.

Prakashi’s awards include a Stree Shakti Puraskar by former President Pranab Mukherjee, a Women’s Achievers in India trophy and an Icon Lady Award by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

One of Prakashi’s eight children, Seema, is an international shooter and India’s first woman shooter to win a Shotgun Silver at the International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup. Today, many of Prakashi’s 20 grandchildren and Chandro’s six children and 15 grandchildren are shooters. Also, many women from the Tomar family now train girls at the Johri Rifle Association.

“Every song in the film has been written with the script as an inspiration. In turn, Tushar has drawn inspiration from the songs and rewritten some of the dialogues. It has been a beautiful give-and-take relationship. The music is deeply rooted in rural India and gives out a strong message that even ‘this India’ is cool,” Raj signs off.