The film, produced by her husband, is an adaptation of the classic play, Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe, and hopes to court a wider audience than theatre.
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 6, 2015)

Subodh Maskara, who set up an entertainment platform which is a cross between cinema and theatre, called CinePlay, has gone a step further with his forthcoming project, Khamosh! Adaalat Jaari Hai, a 95-minute feature film. Subodh has bought the rights of six of the late Vijay Tendulkar's plays and Khamosh! Adaalat Jaari Hai, the Hindi adaptation of the Marathi play, Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe, will be the first film in the series to roll. The makers will build a set and plan to wrap the film in one start-to-finish schedule.

Helmed by Ritesh Menon, who had earlier directed Crazy Cukkad Family, the film is set in the '70s and features Nandita Das, Saurabh Shukla and Swanand Kirkire. Saurabh plays the lawyer Sukhatme, Swanand essays the role of Gopal Ponkshe while Nandita is Leela Benare, the liberal schoolteacher who questions everything in society.

Subodh, who is Nandita's husband, admits that it's a difficult role to pull off because despite the satirical humour, Tendulkar's plays have a lot of depth. "Everybody felt that Nandita would do justice to the role. Leela Benare is a strong, free-spirited woman, she does not get cowed down by societal norms and speaks her mind, characteristics Nandita shares," says Subodh.

Quiz him on why he chose Khamosh! Adaalat Jaari Hai as the first out of the six plays and Subodh says, "It's one of those pieces that reach out to a very wide audience and is relevant. Every one of Vijay Tendulkar's plays is dark but this one tackles the dark subject in a light way at the beginning. The idea is to take classic plays to the widest audience possible and ensure that they appreciate it."

Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe is a social satire that follows the mock trial of Leela Benare, a school teacher who is accused of being pregnant with the illegitimate child of a married man.

Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 12, 2014)

After exploring her dark side in Ajay Bahl’s critically-acclaimed noir drama BA Pass, for which she won the Critics Choice Filmfare award for Best Actress, Shilpa Shukla has now been signed by Prakash Jha for a comedy that he is producing. The film is tentatively titled Parivar Time and is set in Mahabaleshwar. A source from the sets describes it as a “crazy caper” revolving around a dysfunctional family.

It will be directed by Ritesh Menon, who had previously dabbled in documentaries. He was also the associate director on several projects helmed by Santosh Sivan. Parivar Time is expected to hit the theatres in November.

Lyricist Swanand Kirkire will also be making a full-fledged acting debut with this film. He plays Shilpa's brother who is constantly at loggerheads with her.

Revealed the source, “It’s a quirky, situational comedy about a Punjabi family who live in Mahabaleshwar. Shilpa plays a wannabe with a tendency to overdramatises everything that she does.”

Shilpa confirmed the news saying, “It’s a refreshing change for me. I’ve always wanted to explore comedy as a genre but I was mostly approached for serious roles. Now, I can finally experiment with one.”

Meanwhile, Jha is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the Bettiah constituency in Bihar. But despite his hectic schedule, he is supervising this project.