Filmmaker Meghna Gulzar’s next offering Chhapaak,
starring Deepika Padukone, will also feature some
real acid attack survivors.The film will narrate the story of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.”The decision to cast real acid attack survivors was fairly an organic one because we had the characters of Malti and Amol, and Amol runs an NGO where survivors and volunteers work for the welfare of other survivors. In that, we had to have actors who plays survivors and I thought why not get the actual survivors from Alok Dixit’s NGO to play the parts and I am just grateful they agreed,” said Meghna. Laxmi herself isn’t playing her part in the film. Meghna said: “As hard as it may be to believe but Laxmi acting in the film, or wanting to act in the film or showing any desire to act in the film never came up, directly nor indirectly. One would have needed a professional and proficient actor who could deliver to the calibre of the performance. None of us including Laxmi would want to lose out on the substance and impact of the film. I feel Laxmi too realised the gravity of the performance required in the film and therefore it just never came up.” (IANS)
