Rani Mukerji averred that for the film she drew inspiration from the mother whose story have been reflected on her upcoming film Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway. The movie, helmed by Ashima Chibber featured the saga of a NRI couple Sagarika Bhattacharya and Anurup Bhattacharya who unsettled the child rights law in Norway and shook the human rights at a global level.
Rani mentioned that she had not met Sagarika during the making of the film, but the inspiration have been drawn from her mother Krishna Mukherjee. “As an actor, I wanted to being my interpretation to the character. I didn’t want too much of baggage and have people find similarities between my role and the real person.
“Ashima had many tapes recorded of Sagarika, and I saw those for some references, but the rest of the character is actually based on my mum. She’s the most Bengali person I know… Be it feeding us with her hands, putting a tikka on us… I drew strength and inspiration from my mother,” Rani mentioned at a promotional event of the film on Friday.
The actor and producer Nikkhil Advani in conversation with Karan Johar said that Rani with no hesitation agreed to work on the project. “I told Nikkhil that he won’t be able to deal with my tantrums. But Nikkhil agreed to all my conditions and didn’t give me any chance to say ‘no’ to the film,” Rani added.
Lauding her director Ashima, the 44-year-old actor mentioned that the maker was passionate and dedicated enough to work on the story backed with much research and efforts. “When I spoke to Ashima, I realised that she was very passionate about the story because she had spoken to Sagarika and she was very involved with the subject. That love translates into the film.”
Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway is bankrolled by Monisha Advani, Madhu Bhojwani and Nikkhil Advani of Emmay Entertainment and Zee Studios.
Nikkhil mentioned that for him it was important to bring out stories of Indians based in abroad. “There are so many stories like this that are hard to believe. Even when I made Airlift, I found it very hard to believe that 170,000 Indians were left stranded there. Here, too, it’s such an unbelievable story. Many such unknown stories happen with Indians abroad, and they need to be highlighted,” the producer said.
Rani recounts when her husband who is Yash Raj Films’ owner Aditya Chopra, was left “shocked and moved” after watching the film. “Adi was shocked after seeing the film. He was deeply moved and I don’t think I have seen him so moved in any film. Last time, he was so moved, is when Yash uncle passed away.”
“He is a parent today, so it hit him. He was very sweet and gave me a side hug as if I am his child. He adds, ‘Well done,’ and I said, ‘Thank you.’ It was a moment because Adi praises me behind my back. I think he could not stop himself and he was moved by the film,” she said. Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway will hit the theaters on March 17.
