Director Amole Gupte talks about how Saina Nehwal’s parents reacted to the biopic Saina

After 6 years of hard work, Amole Gupte’s ‘Saina’ is finally ready for release in theatres. Starring Parineeti Chopra, the movie follows the story of Saina Nehwal. The project faced many hurdles when Shraddha Kapoor, who was originally selected to play the part of the badminton player, stepped back from the movie.

“I felt like I had jumped off an aircraft with a parachute that wasn’t opening for a while. I thought I was going to crash land and disappear, but luckily it opened and I had a smooth landing,” Amole said when talking about the movie. He also talked about how he only knew about Saina’s achievements like everyone and not the story behind them.

In 2015, Saina Nehwal became World No. 1 and Amole decided to make the film. Since then he has dedicated all his time to know more about her life. It was in 2019 that Parineeti came aboard as Saina.

The movie was recently shown to Saina’s parents and their reaction was priceless. “They are so simple and down-to-earth. They loved the film and got emotional watching their daughter’s story unfold on the screen. And I was overwhelmed by their reactions,” Amole adds.