Shalini Pandey recently featured alongside Junaid Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat and Sharwari in YRF’s ‘Maharaj’. The actress recently mentioned how the film’s rape scene, where her character is forced to engage intimately with the self-styled godman Maharaj, made her extremely anxious. She mentioned that when she read the scene, she felt like her character was stupid. However, she soon realised that it was her conditioning that made her believe that what she did was fine.
In the film, Jaideep is seen as the titular godman in the 1800s and young women are made to believe that they have to submit themselves to him as part of ‘charan seva’. “When I actually did that scene with the Maharaj, the charan seva scene… till the time I actually did it, I did not realise what impact it had on me because I did the scene and suddenly, I went out and I told my team I don’t want to be in a closed room, I need time, I need some fresh air, I am getting a little anxious,” Shalini told Bollywood Hungama.
Shalini mentioned that she talked about the scene with director Siddharth P Malhotra and her co-star from the scene, Jaideep, “obviously understood.”
Adding how she felt Kishori, her character, was a stupid woman initially, Shalini said, “Playing Kishori who is such a naive sweet… Initially, when I read it, I was like bevakoof hai yeh toh (she is stupid) but then I realised she is not stupid, she just doesn’t know any better. She was conditioned so much that she believed everything she was doing,” adding, “When you feel and do it and think about it, it shatters you. Then you realise she is not stupid. I hope she knew that this was happening to her.”
‘Maharaj’ is based on The Maharaj Libel Case of 1862 trial, which was filed by Jadunathjee Brajratanjee Maharaj, against Nanabhai Rustomji Ranina and Karsandas Mulji, played by Junaid Khan.
