Aneet Padda's post-Saiyaara follow-up Hunkkaar: The Roar promises a dark, provocative thriller about a young survivor taking on a godman accused of sexual abuse.
Key Points
- Aneet Padda's next project, Hunkkaar: The Roar, is an OTT series set to stream on JioHotstar from September 25.
- The series features Aneet as Meenu Rawat, a 17 year old who accuses a revered godman, Baapji, of sexual abuse.
- Fatima Sana Shaikh plays a cop investigating the case, with Rajesh Sharma, Charu Shankar, Arjun Mathur, Zoya Hussain, Ram Kapoor and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub in supporting roles.
Following the success of Saiyaara, fans of Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda have been eager to catch them on the big screen again.
With Aneet already pencilled in to lead Maddock Films' horror-comedy Shakti Shalini, it came as a surprise that her next release is dropping directly on JioHotstar.
Or perhaps we shouldn't be.
Hunkkaar: The Roar is a series Aneet reportedly completed before finding stardom with Saiyaara. It dates back to her time headlining OTT shows like Big Girls Don't Cry and Yuva Sapno Ka Safar.
Exactly why the project was left on the shelf for this long remains open to conjecture. It might have been a strategic move to wait for Saiyaara to break box office records and allow Aneet to settle in her stardom, or perhaps the show's content was deemed a bit too controversial.
The recently revealed teaser of Hunkkaar: The Roar certainly points towards the latter.
WATCH: The Teaser of Hunkkaar: The Roar
The Hunkkaar: The Roar teaser begins with Aneet playing Meenu Rawat, a 17-year-old student who arrives at a police station with her mother to file a complaint.
She alleges she has been sexually abused by the man running her school. Known as Baapji, he also happens to be a revered godman. You can see why the series has the potential to ruffle feathers. The plot seems inspired by real life cases of 'godmen' convicted of sexual assault alongside a slew of other criminal charges.
While the topic might be controversial for mainstream filmmakers, it is not uncharted territory. Junaid Khan's debut Maharaj was based on the real-life Maharaj Libel Case of 1862, where a religious leader was exposed for having sexual liaisons with his followers.
Manoj Bajpayee's Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai drew inspiration from the Asaram Bapu case while taking a fictional route.
Saif Ali Khan's Kartavya also featured a subplot about a spiritual leader accused of abusing children in his shelter home.
Interestingly, all the films mentioned above skipped theatrical releases and went straight to OTT platforms.
The Other Cast Members
As the teaser unfolds, we get brief glimpses of the supporting cast. Fatima Sana Shaikh plays the parallel lead, stepping into the shoes of the cop investigating the case.
Rajesh Sharma and Charu Shankar are spotted at the police station alongside Aneet, so it is safe to assume they play her parents. We also see Arjun Mathur and Zoya Hussain, with the latter dressed in a get-up that suggests she is a devout disciple of Baapji.
Ram Kapoor and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub take the stage as the rival lawyers fighting the sexual assault case in court, and you can guess who is defending whom.
What stands out most is the defiance shown by Aneet's character towards the end of the teaser when she is determined that the police file her complaint no matter the delay. It promises a different side of the actress compared to her role in Saiyaara.
The identity of the actor playing Baapji, however, is kept under wraps.
Hunkkaar: The Roar is directed by Nitya Mehra and Karan D Kapadia, both of whom previously directed Aneet in Big Girls Don't Cry. The series will begin streaming on September 25.
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Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
