“It feels like my first film again,” grins Anushka Sharma, who began shooting for Chakda Xpress this week in Mumbai. The project is significant to the actor for two reasons — Prosit Roy’s directorial venture marks her first movie after embracing motherhood. More importantly, it traces the glorious journey of former Indian women’s cricket captain Jhulan Goswami, thus reiterating women’s struggles in the sport.

As she returns to the movies three-and-a-half years after Zero (2018), Sharma is glad to have found a film she truly believes in. She says, “Unfortunately, the pandemic kept me from returning to the movies, even though I was itching to start filming.”

Though the Netflix film rolled only recently, Sharma’s prep began in February as she headed to the pitch to pick up Goswami’s bowling style. “A film of this scale needed tremendous prep in all departments. It is a delightful script that intends to make strong statements,” she says.

After wrapping up the Mumbai leg, the team is expected to head to the United Kingdom for an extensive schedule next month.

The story celebrates the grit of Goswami, who went on to create the record for the highest number of wickets taken by a woman in an international cricket career. The actor considers the biopic one of her most definitive films. “It is a fact that women have to go that extra mile to earn their place in this patriarchal world. Jhulan Goswami’s life is testimony to the fact that she carved her own destiny, and fought for every inch of the spotlight and recognition. I hope that I can do justice to the script.”