Laal Singh Chaddha might have been deemed lacklustre by trade at the box office, but one can’t deny that the Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan-starrer has a big heart. For Mona Singh, who plays the protagonist’s mother in the Indian adaptation of Forrest Gump (1994), the movie’s timeless appeal is far more important than its commercial returns.

“The film will reach more people when it releases on Netflix. They will have a different point of view. This isn’t a short-term film that can be labelled hit or flop. It will stay with people for a long time,” she says, confident of their labour of love. “I am so glad to be a part of such a sweet film.”

Singh has now moved on to her next, Ek Chup. The short film, helmed by Sonya V Kapoor, delves into the rise of cases of domestic violence during the pandemic. As a female actor, Singh says it was triggering and unsettling to do the project.

“During the lockdown, we read about cases of abuse and divorce. People were behaving out of character. I jumped at the script. Though it’s a hard-hitting subject, it is written subtly. We did a lot of reading and workshops. The character had to be internalised; it’s not easy to portray internal turmoil on screen.”

She hopes that the film will take the conversation around domestic violence and emotional abuse a step further.