Kangana Ranaut at the trailer launch of Tiku Weds Sheru.
Kangana Ranaut was seen at the Tiku Weds Sheru trailer launch today. She is producing the film.
The trailer of Kangana Ranaut’s Tiku Weds Sheru starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Avneet Kaur was unveiled today (June 14). At the promotional event of the film that took place in Mumbai, Kangana Ranaut revealed that the film was originally titled Divine Lovers and was launched about six-seven years back and that it was supposed to feature late actor Irrfan and herself in lead roles. However, the film never got made and she decided to revive it as Tiku Weds Sheru by donning the hat of a producer.
While interacting with the press, Kangana stated that through the film, she intends on paying a homage to many outsiders who come to Mumbai with dreams in their eyes to become movie stars. “This film is a heartfelt ode and love letter to those who come to the city and somewhere lose their dreams but end up finding something much more meaningful. We made Tiku Weds Sheru with that thought,” she remarked.
Recalling her own days of struggle, Kangana elaborated, “All of us, including Nawaz sir, has gone through the grind of those struggling days. Today, we have everything like stardom and fans, and the world is very kind to us. But we have also seen the other side of Mumbai, of Bollywood and the underbelly of Bollywood as we call it like the shady audition offices and offers.”
Despite all that, she believes that the city of Mumbai and the Hindi film industry continues to keep the dreams of many alive. “We come to do certain things but get drifted towards other things but still the Bollywood dream continues. It manages to nurture and take care of so many people,” she said.
In 2006, she began her acting journey with Gangster. Despite not having any connections with the film industry, she has managed to carve a niche for herself. Lauding outsiders and their struggles and how that formed the basis of Tiku Weds Sheru, she added, “I’m anyway a very busy actor. Whatever I do is not just to keep myself occupied but also has a larger meaning. For me, the most important part of this project was to delve deep into the lives of those people who we see behind the actors and the stars. We talk about the struggles that we faced when we came into this line [of work] but a creative interpretation of those struggles will strike a chord with the audience and that’s why I indulged in this project.”
Tiku Weds Sheru marks Kangana’s debut as a producer under her banner Manikarnika Films. For her, production is a strategic move to ‘find amazing people outside of the regular film set-up’. So, she decided to launch Avneet in her first role as a protagonist, who started her career with a reality dance show Dance India Dance Li’l Masters in 2010. “I got to work with Nawaz sir. I didn’t get the chance to work with him in so many years. I also found a fresh talent like Avneet just the way I was also found by someone who gave an opening to an outsider to come into films. These things are far more important for me. This is such a great time to be in the films and I’m glad that I lasted even after 17 years,” Kangana said.
Tiku Weds Sheru is directed by Sai Kabir Srivastav. It is all set to start streaming on Amazon Prime Video from June 23.
