Saina director Amol Gupte defends poster against backlash
Parineeti Chopra is gearing up to be back on the big screen with her upcoming film Saina. The biopic based on the life of badminton ace Saina Nehwal is slated to release on March 26. Ahead of its release, the film has been witnessing backlash over one of the posters that allegedly shows the wrong way of servicing in the game. Netizens trolled the makers soon after the poster was out saying, 'Saina is doing a Sania Mirza.' People claimed that the way of service is done in tennis and not badminton. Now, director Amole Gupte has come out to defend the 'high concept poster' and mocked the 'quick reacting' world.
Taking to his Facebook, Amole Gupte wrote, "Too much speculation in the digital media about the poster... “looks like a tennis serve... Saina doing a Sania” etc etc...If Saina is the flying shuttle, then clearly, the girl’s hand with the National colours wristband is the hand of the Indian Girl Child aspiring to reach Saina’s height!!! High Concept Poster by Rahul Nanda has to be unfortunately explained in detail to a quick reacting, impatient world... not stopping to think before rubbishing anything!!! Socho!!!"
On Thursday, Parineeti Chopra released the teaser of the film Saina. The teaser shows her as the ace badminton player entering the badminton court as she prepares for a match. The video starts with Parineeti's voiceover: "Mera desh Bharat, abaadi sawa sau crore, usme se aadhi ladkiya. Raja beta college padhega mera, beti chulha phuke. Aur fir 18 ke hote hi, hath peele, story finish. Lekin mere sath aesa nahi hua, karchi-tawe ke badle mein pakdi maine talwar. Saamne kaun hai, iss se mjhe kabhi koi fark nahi pada, mera maqsad, ekdum saral - saamne waale ko chhit kar dena, maar dena."
The teaser also underlines the discrimination between boys and girls that happens in most Indian households. While boys are expected to run the houselod, women are restricted to the kitchen.
The film is directed by Amole Gupte and was shot in 2019. It was originally supposed to release in the summer of last year but got delayed due to the pandemic. Shraddha Kapoor was initially cast as Saina Nehwal but later replaced by Parineeti.
Meanwhile, Parineeti will also be seen in the film "Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar", which has been directed by Dibakar Banerjee. The film also stars Arjun Kapoor and is slated to release on March 19.
