Shravan Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 5, 2018)

After Neeraj Pandey’s Sidharth Malhotra and Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Aiyaary, Pooja Chopra will be next seen in a romantic comedy directed by Bengali filmmaker Agnidev Chatterjee opposite Sharman Joshi.

Talking about the light-hearted film, the actress, who was told to put on a few kilos for her part, told Mirror, “I am a romantic at heart and love romcoms. I play Avantika in the film. I am excited about the project as it marks my foray into the genre. We are currently shooting in various parts of Mumbai.”

According to a source close to the development, Avantika rejects a potential suitor (Sharman in the role of Babloo) for not being ambitious but finds herself falling for him later on. “The film showcases the duo’s journey. They hail from different backgrounds but cross paths several times in the film,” the source added.

Predominantly set in Mumbai and Lucknow, the film went on the floors recently.

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 5, 2017)

Sharman Joshi, who was last seen in Vishal Pandya’s 2016 drama Wajah Tum Ho, has just wrapped up the Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani production 3 Storeys which, as the title implies, is three stories culminating in one.

“The one with me and Masumeh (Makhija) is a love story with the exes meeting after years. The second story revolves around Richa Chadha and Renuka Shahane and the third is about a teenage couple,” informs Sharman, who is rehearsing for his play Natak Na Natak Nu Natak, a Gujarati adaptation of The Play That Goes Wrong.

He’s also signed another film about a love triangle with Sonalee Kulkarni as an aspiring actress, Tejashree Pradhan as a journalist and him as a bachelor on the lookout for a bride. Titled Babloo Bachelor, the film marks Bengali director Agnidev Chatterjee’s Bollywood debut. “I loved the script, it’s hilarious, and after a really long time gave my nod to a film immediately. We start shooting from October 3 in Lucknow where the story is set followed by Mumbai and should wrap up by January,” informs the actor.

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 8, 2016)

Mirror (Feb 18) had reported that Peter Mukerjea's sister Shangon Das Gupta had filed a petition in the Bombay High Court seeking a stay on the release of the Hindi, English, Bengali trilingual Dark Chocolate claiming it shows the media baron in an adverse light and would hamper his shot at an impartial trial. But a division bench of the High Court, comprising Justices AA Sayed JJ and SC Dharmadhikari have refused to grant a stay. "Now it is the duty of the Censor Board to view the film within the purview of the guidelines and provisions of The Cinematograph Act, 1952. It's a responsible body to decide on the appropriate certification that the film deserves," says advocate Monesh Prem who is representing the makers.

Director Agnidev Chatterjee had admitted that the Sheena Bora murder case has inspired the Mahima Chaudhary-Sudeep Mukherjee starrer but it wrapped up in October before Peter's arrest last November. "We were confident that we'd get justice," he exults. "We are looking at a May release." 

Court says wait for the film to be completed first
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 18, 2016)

Mahima Chaudhry plays a character inspired by Indrani Mukerjea in a film based on the Sheena Bora murder case
Upala KBR (DNA; January 19, 2016)


Mahima Chaudhry
The plot is based on the premise: Can a mother kill her own child? If I hadn’t read it in the papers, I would have found the story over-the-top and not possible in real life. I have heard about infanticide, but having grown, nurtured and provided that child financial support, if the mother reaches a point where she can’t tolerate that child, it’s something to think about. The film doesn’t really solve the mystery, so it’s fuzzy. The story is like chocolate, which people can’t resist and yet leaves a bitter taste in their mouths, but they still crave it. Agnidev came to meet me in Mumbai and said, ‘It’s a story of a mother suspected of killing her daughter and is loosely inspired by the Sheena Bora murder case.’ I said it’s very interesting and far easier for me to do than wear chiffon sarees and dance around trees. I asked him to give me a couple of months to get myself regimented into a diet and workout. He said that would defeat the purpose as he wanted me to look simple and not even wear makeup. He wanted the audience to wonder how an ordinary girl could have had so many lovers, so many people falling in love with her, how she got lucky, what was so special about her. I got up and hugged him! He said if I said yes, I would have to come to Kolkata in two days and start shooting. My first scene was the interrogation. I speak Bengali, so the language wasn’t a problem. Also my character travels from Assam and Mumbai to Kolkata, so apart from Bengali, I also speak in Hindi and English. I guess I can say now that I debuted in a Bengali film...

The story had to be told
If I hadn’t read the true story I would have told my director to cut off some scenes as they look so unreal. I had just two days to prepare for my role. It was a story that needed to be told. It’s very tough playing a real life character in a controversial story. Yes it’s dark, but I am not the only dark character in the film. As the story unfolds you will see my three husbands are darker than me. I come out looking light grey and not dark when the film gets over. What was tough was that it’s the first character that I have not understood but just played blindly according to the director’s vision. Being a mother myself (she has a daughter) I just couldn’t be convinced why she did it. I don’t want to know the motive or understand or live the character or do method acting! It’s just a story which has never been told on cinema so I agreed to do it. I am not convinced there can be a woman like that… There can be no motive big enough for a mother to kill her child. She must have gone through some evil stuff to make her like that. While accidental murder is different this one was a planned one. How can there be so many evil people amongst us? It’s ironical. I had done a reality show Jalwa Four 2 Ka 1 for the 9X channel which was then owned by Peter and Indrani.

The film drained me
In real life stories like this you can’t give your own inputs —the only one person who controls the story is the director and where he wants to take the story or play it up. You can’t bring in your own take as you already know so much. The film drained me… It’s not a good feeling to play characters like this. You start feeling who should I trust now? These are the same evil people from your society moving around you. I met a lot of people in Kolkata who said Saneeiv Khanna is a wonderful, well-spoken man. They all said, ‘How could Sanju have done something like this?’ They would refer to him so fondly and called him Sanju. In the film my characters are presumed to be evil, they are not who we think they are, so the audience will think could I have done it?

Riya plays my daughter in the film and she was a lot of fun. Her sister Raima and mother came on the sets and the Sens were a riot. It was very good to hang out with them. Some scenes like the hacking scenes which we shot in Shantiniketan made me feel very depressed and Riya and I would feel yucky doing them while shooting them in a remote jungle but she always cheered me up. Riya is a very pretty girl and we got along very well.

BOMBAY TIMES (September 16, 2015)