Meghna
Gulzar
is
bringing
to
us
a
heart-wrenching
story
of
suffering
and
triumph
through
her
film
on
acid
attack,
Chhapaak.
The
film
will
star
Deepika
Padukone
as
Malti,
an
acid
attack
survivor,
whose
characterization
has
been
inspired
by
real
life
survivor
Laxmi
Agarwal.
For
Meghna,
this
was
an
important
story
to
be
told
as
she
believes
that
the
issue
of
acid
attacks
is
not
being
discussed
as
much
as
it
should
be.
She
also
revealed
that
they
found
Malti
in
the
first
prosthetics
session
that
Deepika
sat
for.
Talking
to
Mid-Day,
Meghna
explained
the
reason
behind
wanting
to
tell
this
story.
She
said,
"The
frequency
of
this
violent
act
[acid
attack]
is
high,
but
the
awareness
around
it
is
abysmally
low.
The
dialogue
around
this
has
to
be
brought
into
public
consciousness."
Meghna
had
to
gain
the
trust
of
Laxmi
Agarwal,
upon
whom
this
story
is
based.
"I
wanted
to
make
her
story
the
anchor
as
it
was
a
landmark
case," she
said.
She
also
revealed
that
it
took
her
over
a
month
to
reach
her.
When
they
did
meet
her,
Laxmi
was
apprehensive
about
the
way
in
which
the
story
would
be
treated,
as
she
didn't
want
it
to
be
like
a
scandalous
thriller.
But
it
took
Meghna
some
time
to
win
her
faith.
Meghna
has
stated
before
that
it
was
important
for
her
to
cast
a
face
of
beauty
as
Malti
in
the
film.
She
said
that
Deepika
was
the
first
actor
they
approached
for
this
role,
and
she
said
yes
within
ten
minutes
of
hearing
the
script.
She
further
added,
"We
didn't
want
to
make
her
look
like
Laxmi.
The
idea
was
to
show
how
Deepika's
face
would
look,
God
forbid,
had
it
been
damaged
by
acid.
It
was
spooky
how
we
nailed
the
look
during
our
first
session
with
prosthetics.
That
day,
we
knew
we
had
our
Malti."
Chhapaak
also
stars
Vikrant
Massey
alongside
Deepika.
The
film
is
set
for
release
on
January
10,
2020.