‘Chhapaak’ Not Just Biopic, but About Larger Issue: Meghna Gulzar

Deepika Padukone has embodied the character of an acid attack survivor.

Vikrant Massey, Meghna Gulzar and Deepika Padukone.

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram)

In a recent interview with a news daily, Raazi director Meghna Gulzar went behind the scenes of her highly awaited next feature Chhapaak, which stars Deepika Padukone as an acid-attack survivor based on the life of Laxmi Agarwal.

Chapaak started shooting in March and wrapped up on 4 June. While Meghna has been working on the film for over a year, she told Mumbai Mirror that the shoot was always scheduled to finish in 43 days.

Meghna revealed that Deepika had to sit through two and a half hours of prosthetics every day with international prosthetic designer Clover Wootoon to achieve her look in the film. But the makers didn’t want the work to be apparent on screen.

“I didn’t want people to watch this film with their eyes shut, the idea was not to create Laxmi’s face on Deepika but something that would be Deepika’s face had it been scarred the way Laxmi’s was,”  

Meghna Gulzar

While Laxmi Agarwal has given her full support to the film, even visiting the sets a couple of times, Meghna is quick to clarify that Chhapaak is not a biopic.

This isn’t just a story based on her life, it focusses on the issue in a larger perspective... The first step is awareness and acceptance.”   

Meghna Gulzar

Speaking about Deepika’s performance, Meghna claimed that the Padmaavat actor has embodied the role of Malti and the two have become indistinguishable.

Since Chhapaak is set to release on 10 January 2020, Meghna clarified the film needs extensive post-production including editing, special effects and music.

(With Inputs From: Mumbai Mirror)