The best way to start the year is with a release or with shooting. I am so happy that I am doing both,” gushes Rakulpreet Singh. She is working in a condom factory in her latest outing Chhatriwali, a film streaming on Zee5, which also happens to be the first project she is headlining.

Tell us about your character Sanya in Chhatriwali.

Sanya is a small-town girl from Karnal, Haryana. She comes across certain circumstances which make her realise that she needs to advocate sex education in school. The film tracks her journey from there, how she fights the odds and creates awareness. She is very headstrong, yet sensible and sensitive.

What genre would you put the film in?

I would call it edutainment, since it entertains and educates.

You are playing a quality control inspector in a condom factory. Did you have to do any homework?

The homework was done mostly by the director and the writers. I had to step into the shoes of the character and pick up the nuances of being a small-town girl. I am a chemistry graduate in the film. A quality control head is somebody who is good with chemicals and she has to make sure that the product has the right tensile strength.

In recent times, there have been a couple of films on the subject of condoms — Helmet (2021) and Janhit Mein Jaari (2022). Is a subject that was once taboo coming into the mainstream on screen?

No matter how many films come, the truth is only seven per cent people use protection. Till the time that seven per cent increases to at least 70 per cent, any number of films that are made on the subject would be inadequate. The awareness needs to be created. There are so many thrillers, so many love stories, so many action films... Yet every film’s story is different. This film talks about safe sex and how it affects women’s health. We’re talking about sex education, about the ill effects of unsafe sex on women. Nobody talks about how many miscarriages or abortions it is ok for a human body to handle. The answer is not more than two. It is traumatic for a woman’s body to undergo multiple abortions. This film gives women a voice and educates men that if they care about their women, they must care about their well-being. Also the film is dealt with a lot of sensitivity; there is no sensationalising. It is a very family-driven film, which I loved.

In the 80s, any mention of sex would involve innuendoes. The conversation was more titillating than educational, wasn’t it?

I think that’s where we’ve gone wrong because when you try to sensationalise something that’s already a taboo then people shy away from it. Our film is not trying to create any waves by showing anything in an explicit way so that people understand the educational aspect of it. We are saying that it is important to incorporate sex education at the right age at the right time.

In a patriarchal society like ours, does it not make it easier for society, especially the men, to lend an ear if it’s a man delivering such messages, like Akshay Kumar did in Pad Man, rather than a woman?

The sad part is a lot of women are not even aware that they have a voice or a choice. The film will create that voice, through a woman’s point of view. We should not look at who is telling the story. Rather it should be what is the story, irrespective of whether a man is telling it or a woman. Films like Pad Man did become conversation starters. Before that, sanitary napkins were wrapped in brown papers, as if it’s a crime to buy them. A man needs to respect this biological cycle of women. Even our film is telling you normal facts of basic body science and how we can protect ourselves and our health.

Did you watch Helmet and Janhit Mein Jaari?

Actually we started shooting before Janhit... began. It’s just that we are releasing afterwards. I haven’t seen either of them. But I know our story is very different.

Lessons on reproductive organs are a cause for much mirth in schools. Do you have any memories of that chapter being taught in class?

Ours was a co-ed school. I was very shy and wanted to bunk the class and I actually happened to bunk half of it also, by claiming I had some work as the prefect. We were all very awkward. Now when I think about it, I wonder about this entire environment of us being so awkward about something which is a fact of life. Why can’t we refer to our organs by their names? Reading about the reproductive system should be taken as normally as reading about our digestive or respiratory system. Somewhere we are failing as a society if we are not able to normalise it. Our tagline is, “Optional nahin, compulsory hai”. Everybody gets married. So at least get educated about it! Why should education about it be optional?

Where did you shoot?

We shot in a condom factory in Pune for three days. It was so liberating to see that 70 per cent of the employees there were women. They were just making a product, just as they would in, say a tea factory, sorting the leaves — galat patti ek taraf, sahi patti ek taraf… They were tossing the products just like that. It’s just normal work in a factory that was going on. The problem is with our thought process, not the product.

Is this the first time you are headlining a project?

Yes.

Has the experience been any different?

It is a beautiful creative process. Every film of mine is important to me but here I was involved from the script level at every stage — from the song selection and posters. We all sat together and heard all the 10 songs the director had. The film was to have four songs. This happens in other films too but more so when you are headlining a film. Of course, the director has the last say but it is a healthy creative discussion.

Your career had been multilingual all through. Last year, you had a spate of Hindi releases. Would you continue to travel south and back?

India is one and an actor is an actor beyond boundaries. It just happened that all the films last year were in Hindi. I love to work everywhere in any film that excites me, be it Tamil, Telugu or Hindi. Today boundaries don’t exist in terms of consumption of cinema so why should I think that way? OTT gave everyone access to global and regional content. When people had the time because of the pandemic and the access because of the OTT platforms, the appreciation started pouring in for global and regional content. It is amazing that a Telugu film (RRR) has got a Gloden Globe and India is being celebrated globally. So this is a great time for anyone in the Indian film industry, from whichever part of the country, to create cinema that can be celebrated internationally.

What comes from you in 2023?

I am working on two Hindi films which will release this year. One is a romcom and the other is a thriller. I have two Tamil films, Indian 2 with Shankar sir (costarring Kamal Haasan), and Ayalaan (a science fiction comedy).