Privileged to have Juhi and Madhuri in film: Anubhav Sinha

Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha is happy to have managed to team up rival actresses of 90s - Juhi Chawla and Madhuri Dixit - for his film Gulab Gang. The upcoming drama film is directed by debutant director Soumik Sen and produced by Anubhav Sinha.

Starring Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla in lead roles, the film is based on Gulabi Gang, a group of Indian women vigilantes and activists dressed in pink saris, fighting against the social injustice and operating in the Bundelkhand region of India.

"I do feel happy and privileged that I got both Juhi and Madhuri in a film. We did not think of them deliberately while writing the film... they fit the role, and hence we approached them. They liked it and agreed to come on board," Sinha told the PTI.

It was not difficult to manage two actresses, who have been arch rivals earlier. "The shooting went on smoothly, both the ladies are extremely gracious, nice and patient. They are wonderful actresses and stars," Sinha said.

The germ of the idea came from director Soumik Sen in Varanasi. "We were in Banaras in the boat... we were there to write a script. We were chilling and Soumik told me about this story, I loved it and decided to back it," Sinha said.

Director Soumik is also quite happy the way his film has shaped up and says the basic premise of Gulab Gang is good versus evil. "Traditionally, in films like Mrityudand, the oppressor is a man. Our story is good versus evil. We usually make films where a man plays hero, villain while women play girlfriend, wife, mother, sister," Soumik said.

"I tried to reverse this thing. We have women as hero and villain. We do have guys in our film playing the role of brother and father," he said.

PTI