Saina Nehwal movie chronicles Indian star's incredible career
The Bollywood movie directed by Amole Gupte and featuring top actress Parineeti Chopra captures the highs and lows of Olympic medallist Saina Nehwal.
Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal’s biopic, titled Saina, was released on March 26, 2021.
With Parineeti Chopra in the lead role, the Bollywood movie -- celebrating the Indian badminton star’s journey -- completed shooting in 2020.
Catering to Indian sports fans and movie buffs, here’s everything you need to know about the Saina Nehwal movie.
Saina Nehwal movie – Cast and known actors
Parineeti Chopra as Saina Nehwal
Playing Saina Nehwal in the biopic is actor Parineeti Chopra of Ladies vs Ricky Bahl fame.
While Deepika Padukone was being touted as a possibility in early days, actor Shraddha Kapoor was finalised to play Saina’s lead role in 2016.
The actor even started shooting for the film once it went on the floor in September 2018.
However, with Shraddha Kapoor replacing Katrina Kaif in Street Dancer 3D, availability issues prompted her to quit the project.
She was replaced by Parineeti Chopra, sister of Priyanka Chopra, who incidentally played the lead role in Mary Kom’s eponymous biopic.
Parineeti Chopra suffered an injury while training for the film but recovered to complete shooting. She even dropped out of Ajay Devgn’s Bhuj: The Pride of India to dedicate the required time to the project.
“I've never been more motivated in my life. With this new phase in my career and life, this project fits like a glove,” Parineeti said during a media interaction.
Saina Nehwal has spent time with both Shraddha and Parineeti to train them for the badminton aspects of the film.
Manav Kaul as Pullela Gopichand (Sarvadhamaan Rajan)
Filmfare award-winning actor Manav Kaul reprised the role of ace badminton player Pullela Gopichand, who coached Saina Nehwal throughout the majority of her career. However, Pullela Gopichand's name has been changed to Sarvadhamaan Rajan in the Saina movie. The reasons are not clear.
Shubhrajyoti Barat as Harvir Singh Nehwal – Saina Nehwal’s father
Article 15 actor Shubhrajyoti Barat plays Saina Nehwal’s father, Harvir Singh Nehwal in the film. Veteran actor Paresh Rawal was rumoured to have taken up the role earlier.
Indian badminton player and Saina Nehwal’s husband Parupalli Kashyap is played by Eshan Naqvi. The movie also features a match against Carolina Marin, however the Spanish badminton champion's name in the film has been changed to Carla Martinez. The name of the actor playing Carla Martinez has not been listed.
Full Saina movie cast
Parineeti Chopra - Saina Nehwal
Eshan Naqvi - Parupalli Kashyap
Shubhrajyoti Barat - Harvir Singh Nehwal
Meghna Malik - Usha Rani Nehwal
Manav Kaul - Rajan (Pullela Gopichand)
Ankur Vikal - Jeevan Kumar
Himanshi Pandey - Badminton Player
Olga Anand - Yana Vorotynkykova's Mother
Rohan Apte - Rohan
Jaspreet Kaur Bhatoye - Abu Nehal (15)
Naishaa Kaur Bhatoye - Little Saina
Ravi Gopal Dantury - Coach Nani Prasad
Sharrman Dey - Damodar
Tarun Dhanrajgir - Dr V. Phanisundar
Nishanti Evani - Parvathi
Nilesh Gawad - Dr Gawad
Prasad Gokhale - Syed Modi Umpire
Bhargav Joshi - Shehnaz Rizvi's Coach
Rishi Kakar - Carla Martinez's Coach
Dimple Kalshan - Abu Nehwal
Irfan Khan - Bimbisaar Babu
Nilesh Kulkarni - IISM Head
Rushikesh Lotlikar - Little Kashyap (as Rushikesh Lotukar)
Adil Majoo - Little Damodar
Taiyaba Mansuri - Little Abu Nehwal
Shashikant Mehta - Mutthu
Ankur Sangpang Ra - Julia Wong's Coach
Ranjith Reddy - Coach Meru
Mishti Sinha - Saina's Reflection
Sarvesh Yadav - Little Rohan
Tsyuoshi Yamamoto - Japanese Coach
Director and producer of Saina Nehwal biopic
Saina has been directed by veteran Bollywood director Amole Gupte. The award-winning actor-screenwriter-director is best known for his work as creative director and screenwriter in Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par.
Gupte has also helmed highly-acclaimed Bollywood movies like Stanley Ka Dabba and Hawaa Hawaai.
In the latter, Gupte tackled certain sporting elements in what was a dramatised take of an aspiring skater’s struggles to overcome poverty and become a champion.
“I am happy that he’s directing my biopic. He knows how to handle such stories and he knows everything about my life very well,” Saina Nehwal said in an interview.
The movie is being produced by Bhushan Kumar under the banner of T-Series – currently one of the biggest production houses in Bollywood.
Saina – celebration of an incredible life and achievements
Saina chronicles the Hyderabadi dynamo’s journey into the sport and features some of her most notable achievements.
“It’s a story of a tigress beti (daughter) who has set fire to the badminton court with her prowess like no one else before. The nation needs to know the story of this icon for the young and the old for a long time to come,” Amole Gupte said in an interview.
The production team went to great lengths to meticulously capture the notable bookmarks of Saina’s career, even recreating 12 different courts to emulate various international venues.
“Each court is in a different country representing a different match right from the Czech Republic to Manila.
“We are shooting each (notable) match for a couple of days and then working overnight to turn the look around for the next one,” Amole Gupte had said.
Saina Nehwal’s bronze medal win at the London 2012 Olympics is one of the centre-pieces of the Saina movie.
“I think it will be an emotional moment for me to see my life unfurl on the big screen,” Saina Nehwal had commented about the film.
The plan for Saina was set into motion in December 2015, a few months after Saina Nehwal became the first-ever Indian woman to be ranked No. 1 in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Rankings.
Director Amole Gupte reportedly visited Saina Nehwal and her family at their Hyderabad residence in person and discussed the Indian badminton star’s career and the movie over some aloo parathas (potato quesadillas).
Despite several snags and delays, particularly with Shraddha Kapoor leaving the project, final shooting for the movie finally began in October 2019 and concluded in February 2020.
Following a rich legacy of sports biopics
Saina follows a rich legacy of highly-successful sports biopics from recent years, namely Sushant Singh Rajput-starrer MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, Aamir Khan’s Dangal, Farhan Akhtar’s Bhaag Milkha Bhag, Irrfan Khan’s Paan Singh Tomar and Priyanka Chopra’s Mary Kom.
Biopics on Olympic medallist Karnam Malleswari and India’s track and field queen PT Usha are also in the pipeline.
Popular Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma, too, has reportedly signed on to play former Indian women’s cricket team captain Jhulan Goswami in her biopic.