Bhumi, Taapsee Aim at the Patriarchy in ‘Saand Ki Aankh’ Trailer

The film releases on Diwali.

Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar in the trailer for Saand Ki Aankh.

(Photo: YouTube Screengrab)

The trailer for Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar-starrer Saand Ki Aankh is out. The two actors play octogenarian sharpshooters Chandro Tomar and her sister-in-law Prakashi Tomar, who made made history by becoming the world’s oldest and second-oldest sharpshooters, respectively. The two started learning how to shoot in 1999-2000 when they were in their 60s. Together, they have won over 50 national championships and have gone on to train many shooters in the last decade and a half.

Despite dodgy prosthetics, Bhumi and Taapsee are believable as the two women from rural Uttar Pradesh and share an easy chemistry in roles that are equal parts endearing and menacing. In the trailer they discover their own sharpshooting skills while encouraging the daughters of the family to take up the sport in the hope they might make a better future for themselves. Though they’re already in their 60s, the women successfully compete at national championships and begin to train other girls from their village to become sharpshooters as well. Their success comes with a price as they have to take on years of patriarchy and the wrath of the men of the village who cannot stomach two women thriving in such an ‘unladylike’ sport.

Saand Ki Aankh has been directed by Tushar Hiranandani and produced by Anurag Kashyap and Reliance Entertainment. It is slated to release during Diwali this year. The film was originally titled Womaniya but was renamed later, since the title was already registered with Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd.