“Lagaan” fame actress Rachel Shelley makes a comenack after 22 years
“Lagaan” fame actress Rachel Shelley makes a comenack after 22 years
After she appeared as Elizabeth in Aamir Khan”s “Lagaan”‘ 22 years ago, which featured Aamir Khan in the lead role, actress Rachel Shelley stages a comeback with the
Pan- Indian production Kohrra.
She essays a pivotal role in the series whose trailer was dropped recently.
Kohrra is of an human nature, projecting the darkness within, where the search for justice becomes intertwined with the politics of interpersonal relationships.
Enlivened by a critically acclaimed cast including Suvinder Vicky, Barun Sobti, Varun Badola, Harleen Sethi, Rachel Shelly, and Manish Chaudhary and helmed by Sudip Sharma, Randeep Jha, and Clean Slate Filmz Productions, the series ensures an authentic narrative that goes beyond the age-old police investigation-led storylines.
On bringing Shelly on board for the series, director Sudip Sharma made it known amid a media interaction, that the casting of Rachel came from a bit of practicality. He knew that he wanted an actor from the UK for the part and didn’t want to hire a ‘white actor working in Mumbai’ just because it makes things easy.
He further added, that shooting a web series is tough. We don’t have the kind of budgets that for films and a professional white actor, who has done good work over there, and that they would find it very tough to shoot here, amid the chaos that’s here. So, part of the reason to hire her was because she had done Lagaan, and she was very much aware what madness could be like. Besides that, she is also a great actor and he had watched a bunch of her other work in the West. So, it was almost like a jigsaw puzzle when you are doing your casting. So much of it is gut and then of course casting director Nikita Grover will keep pushing the boundary.
On the efforts put in by Nikita Grover, Sharma added that she had also done the casting of Pataal Lok, acted in it, and has done casting for season two as well. She has in fact also acted in Kohrra. She understands the world we are trying to create, and it is always on going out there and finding those actors. She spent a good amount of time in Punjab, going to these pinds and kasbas to find these very real actors from there.
Factually, People who have never acted before or those who have only done theatre, and Punjab has a very vibrant theatre scene, she really tapped into it.
Kohrra follows the death of an NRI (Non-Resident Indians) and the impact of grief, mutual suspicion and hidden secrets of the characters involved in the drama.
Set in the heartland of Punjab and steeped in suspense, this new series follows dual storylines of hunting down a killer and navigating love and relationships.
The crime investigation series streams on Netflix on July 15, 2023.
News input KV Raman
