Pooja Meri Jaan stars Mrunal Thakur in the title role and Huma Qureshi.
Mrunal Thakur rediscovered herself through Pooja Meri Jaan shoot. She hopes it creates conversations on women’s sense of guilt due to social conditioning.
Mrunal Thakur’s films might have received mixed reactions from the audience and the critics this year but it would be safe to say that 2023 has been rather eventful for her with the release of Selfiee, Gumraah, Lust Stories 2, Aankh Micholi and Pippa. Come December 7 and she will have her sixth project of the year hitting the screens. Titled Hi Nanna, it marks her second Telugu outing after Sita Ramam (2022) and will see her paired opposite south superstar Nani for the first time.
Alongside shooting for a film with Vijay Deverakonda, Mrunal is currently awaiting the release of Pooja Meri Jaan that also stars Huma Qureshi. The latter revolves around a woman being stalked by an unidentified admirer of her. While most details about it are kept under wraps, in an exclusive conversation with Showsha a while back, Mrunal spilled the beans on the film and how shooting for it was ‘creatively satisfying’.
Talking about it, she said, “We shot for Pooja Meri Jaan in Delhi. It was one of the best experiences because every day after pack-up, I would just lay on my bed and feel so creatively satisfied and be grateful to god because I really wanted to be a part of a film that would create a conversation.”
For Mrunal, filming Pooja Meri Jaan also made for a cathartic experience as it helped her find answers to several questions she had in her mind as a woman. “Whenever I read a script, I try to relate my character in it with who I’m in real life. After read the script of Pooja Meri Jaan, I asked myself so many questions but I didn’t have the answers. That made me go, ‘Wow, I’ve to find these answers.’ While filming, I discovered a new me and realised that some of the things that happened to me in the past isn’t okay,” she shared.
The Jersey (2022) and Toofan (2021) actor further implied that despite being victims of eve-teasing and catcalling, women often go through bouts of guilt that stem from societal conditioning and that’s exactly what the film addresses. “I was made to feel guilty in those situations, which I realised was absolutely wrong. When any girl watches the film, she will tell herself, ‘This is me. This has happened to me. Why haven’t I even spoken about it?’ We tend to feel guilty because the society has raised us in a certain way,” she said.
While there’s no clarity on the official release date of Pooja Meri Jaan yet, Mrunal assured that the wait will be worth it. “No matter how much we love our family and friends, there are times when we’re forced to take certain decisions. There are a lot of Poojas out there, who would be very happy that we made a film like this because we needed to raise an alarm about it. I’m really excited about the film and looking forward to its release. I wish I could release it faster,” she added.
