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Shalini Thackeray is all set to step foot in Bollywood as a producer with Samraj Talkies for Tabrez Noorani’s Love Sonia.
Yesterday, the trailer of the film was released which received a great response.
Incase you missed have a look at the trailer here:
UrbanAsian got a chance to interview Shalini Thackeray where she spoke about Love Sonia and also about how human trafficking is an issue which needs to be told.
Read it out all here:
- How did the collaboration with Tabrez Noorani happen?
Tabrez, Amar we all are a part of this industry, so definitely we will meet each other. Gautam Thakker, he is the one who handles EveryMedia. He is Everymedia. So we are all like together. I had no intention of getting into Bollywood. I had come into this industry to make Marathi films and I started with Lai Bhaari. Though Marathi has a good content, it doesn’t have enough scale and masala which the audience actually want to see. But when I saw the kind of issue Tabrez has taken. He has been working it for like 13 years. These are the things that I have come across in my career every day. These are real-life incidents and this seemed like the film to come together for. Because we all need to bring this issue to the audience but it has to be done in the right manner. So we came together because of the issue which Love Sonia talks about.
- How was it working with Tabrez Noorani?
Tabrez is one of the best people to work for. And to be very frank, I didn’t work with him much because we all went with his conviction. He is the director, he has been working on this so we just went through with his conviction. It was not working together, it was like family. We all associated like that.
- What was that one thing that caught your attention in the script?
See the first thing is that it is not talking about the issue, it is telling you a story about this girl searching for her sister. In today’s world, everybody wants a hero and looks up to a hero. You don’t have to be larger than life. You could be just a person like you and me doing something like people appreciate. This is about a 17year old girl who is for me a hero. It is her story and I felt that it was the best way to tell a story and also bring about this issue, an issue which nobody talks about. Today we all know about it but nobody wants to talk about it.
- How did you all come up with this amazing cast?
(Laughs) I think that credit should be given to Tabrez. The best part was that we got this girl, the lead Mrinal Thakur, fresh face and we needed that kind of face for the lead and everybody is great. Please give all the credit to Tabrez.
- The trailer has got a great response. So how do you feel about it?
Sincerely you want to know my response? I think it is very scary. (Laughs) Because when you have such a tremendous response coming from everyone, expectations go up, people are talking about it, waiting for the film and though I am convinced that yeh film is very good but you know you get a little scared about how it is gonna be received. Very happy that all the efforts that are hone into it, people are appreciating it, but I’m also a little scared.
- Is there any particular reason for not doing much promotions of the movie?
I thinks it’s just a start. The first thing was to announce the date and then show the trailer and also the cast is not here. Everybody is not here. So I think we are just waiting. And finally, when the cast is all here you will see the promotions. And I also feel that this movie doesn’t require promotions.
- What is your take on Human Trafficking?
It’s not an area centric issue, is a global issue and that is what we have also brought up in the film. Lot of work is been done but sadly if I might say it is all been done at the level of NGOs. The government should be addressing the issue which is not being addressed.
I will give you an example of this: just 2 weeks back there was a statistic of 32 thousand girls and women being missing from the state of Maharashtra in just 17 months. So we are talking about an average of 65 girls/women are missing every day in the last 17 months and no one had even heard or talked about it. Nobody is addressing the issue. Nothing as such is proactively happening. There are some good people working on these issues but I wish there was a little more proactive work going on from the government.
- How does it feel to be on a producer’s chair?
When your efforts get noticed and you have a very good product in your hand which something you believe in with conviction, obviously it gives you a lot of satisfaction. Today I am very happy that it’s well received and I will be happier after its release. But yes today there is a sense of satisfaction. As I had said earlier about being a little scared but this was the same feeling I had when Lai Bhaari was released. I just hope Love Sonia is been received the way we have made it.
- What are your upcoming projects?
I was not planning on making a Bollywood movie which I made. I am concentrating a lot on women oriented subjects. My other two films also that I am working on in Marathi are also women oriented subjects. Again those are issues but told in a form of a story. If you have concerns about the subjects raised in Love Sonia, a human trafficking lawyer can provide information and confidential advice
Directed by Tabrez Noorani, Love Sonia has a strong ensemble cast including Freida Pinto, Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkummar Rao, Richa Chadha, Anupam Kher, Adil Hussain, Sai Tamhankar, Sunny Parwar, Demi Moore, Mark Duplass, Noorani is introducing Mrunal Thakur as well as Riya Sisodiya. Love Sonia is produced by Tamasha Talkies, David Womark and Tabrez Noorani. Presented by Samraaj Talkies in association with India Take One Productions, Cinemantra Entertainment, Media Dynasty Consulting Group and Prime Focus Group, the film is slated to release on 14th September, 2018.
