Rani Mukerji on ‘Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway’: Drew strength and inspiration from my mother

PTI, Mar 11, 2023, 8:08 PM IST

Image credit: ANI

Mumbai: Bollywood star Rani Mukerji says she drew inspiration from her mother for her upcoming film ”Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway”. The movie, directed by Ashima Chibber of “Mere Dad Ki Maruti” fame, is a story about a journey of a mother’s battle against an entire country.

The film is based on a true story of NRI couple Sagarika Bhattacharya and Anurup Bhattacharya that rocked children and human rights at an international level. Rani said while she has not yet met Sagarika, her interpretation of the character is based on her mother Krishna Mukherjee.

”As an actor, I wanted to being my interpretation to the character. I didn’t want too much of baggage and have people find similarities between my role and the real person.

”Ashima had many tapes recorded of Sagarika, and I saw those for some references, but the rest of the character is actually based on my mum. She’s the most Bengali person I know… Be it feeding us with her hands, putting a tikka on us… I drew strength and inspiration from my mother,” Rani said at a promotional event of the movie here on Friday.

The actor and producer Nikkhil Advani were in conversation with filmmaker Karan Johar.

Rani said Nikkhil approached him with a one-line script and didn’t give her a chance to say ”no”. ”I told Nikkhil that he won’t be able to deal with my tantrums. But Nikkhil agreed to all my conditions and didn’t give me any chance to say ‘no’ to the film,” she added.

Praising her director Ashima, the 44-year-old actor said the filmmaker was passionate about the subject and researched it well. ”When I spoke to Ashima, I realised that she was very passionate about the story because she had spoken to Sagarika and she was very involved with the subject. That love translates into the film.” “Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway” is produced by Monisha Advani, Madhu Bhojwani and Nikkhil Advani of Emmay Entertainment and Zee Studios.

Nikkhil said for him it was important to highlight stories of Indians based in abroad. The filmmaker has produced 2016’s ”Airlift”, based on the evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

“There are so many stories like this that are hard to believe. Even when I made ‘Airlift’, I found it very hard to believe that 170,000 Indians were left stranded there. Here, too, it’s such an unbelievable story. Many such unknown stories happen with Indians abroad, and they need to be highlighted,” the producer said.

Rani recalled how her husband, Yash Raj Films’ head Aditya Chopra, was ”shocked and moved” after seeing the film. ”Adi was shocked after seeing the film. He was deeply moved and I don’t think I have seen him so moved in any film. Last time, he was so moved, is when Yash uncle passed away.

”He is a parent today, so it hit him. He was very sweet and gave me a side hug as if I am his child. He said, ‘Well done,’ and I said, ‘Thank you.’ It was a moment because Adi praises me behind my back. I think he could not stop himself and he was moved by the film,” she said.

”Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway” is scheduled to be released in theatres on March 17.