Before making his debut film, Love, Sonia, director Tabrez Noorani made sure that his leading ladies, Mrunal Thakur, Riya Sisodiya, Richa Chadha and Freida Pinto knew what kind of characters they had to play. Since the film is based on victims of sex trafficking, the director made sure that his girls interact with real girls who have been victims of the same. Mrunal, who plays the protagonist, Sonia, in the film, says, “It was extremely sad to hear stories about how these girls ended up in the flesh trade. They were initially shy but eventually opened up and shared incidents that shook me and were difficult to get out of my head.”
Most of the film was shot in the presence of these girls, and talking about how they kept it all real, Noorani said, “From day one, I wanted this film to be authentic. Therefore, it was important to me to give the actors as much information as possible. Whenever I could have them meet people we were portraying in the film, I did that. I wanted them to absorb the surroundings where the story takes place. The more research the better, and the actors all embraced this process.”
Also featuring Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkummar Rao, Sai Tamhankar, Adil Hussain, Anupam Kher and Demi Moore, Love, Sonia releases on September 14.
Bombay Balloon 