Kicking ass on screen can be a thrilling affair. Kajol is discovering it as she shoots Maharagni: Queen of Queens, helmed by Telugu director Charan Tej Uppalapati. In May, the actor had unveiled the film’s teaser that saw her in a fierce avatar as she took on baddies single-handedly. On the surface, Maharagni is a revenge story with the protagonist rising against all odds to claim power. There is more to it, promises Uppalapati. He says that at its core, it is a story of women empowerment, while exploring the parent-child bond.

The director, who kicked off the shoot in Hyderabad in February, shares, “In today’s times, women are an avatar of Goddess Durga, and have the qualities of Lakshmi and Saraswati. Kajol plays Maya, a woman who rises from Dharavi’s slums and becomes one of the most powerful women in Maharashtra. The central theme is about loving your parents. Through the movie, we want to tell the audience to take care of their parents.”

In her three-decade-plus career, Kajol flirted with Tamil movies with Minsara Kanavu (1997) and Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 (2017). Maharagni marks her first pan-India offering, with the director shooting it in Hindi and planning to dub it in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada. Making it an anticipated project is its powerful cast that includes Naseeruddin Shah, Prabhudheva, Samyuktha Menon and Jisshu Sengupta.

“I wanted to tell a story that everyone across India would connect to. So, I [roped in] actors from different states. Kajol ma’am is leading a [mainstream] action entertainer like this for the first time. When I narrated the script to her, she was excited. I am a director from Hyderabad who has come down to Mumbai to do something; it’s only because of Kajol ma’am’s support and guidance that I could do this. Once she gets into the character, she is immersed in it, and is a fabulous actor. She spends time on the sets and lives the character.”

With a chunk of Maharagni shot in Hyderabad, the unit will begin the final schedule in Mumbai next month. Uppalapati is particularly excited about presenting his leading lady in an action avatar for the first time. “Kajol prepped [hard] for the action sequences. For me, action has to make sense and [go beyond] looking good. There should be an emotion behind each action set-piece.”