City girl Priyanka Singh, who debuts as a lead in a film scheduled to be released next week, is set to be pitted against Deepika Padukone, albeit by chance.
Priyanka, who now lives in Mumbai for her profession, has directed and acted as the lead in ACID-Astounding Courage In Distress, a film on an acid attack survivor that is set for a nationwide release on January 3.
Just a week after ACID’s release, Chhapaak, a biopic on acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal will hit the screens.
Directed and produced by Meghna Gulzar, the film will have Deepika playing the lead with Vikrant Massey and Ankit Bisht in pivotal roles.
Priyanka, however, is not too worried about the two films dealing with the same topic releasing only seven days apart. “Despite having the same topic, the two films are very different,” she said.
“The storyline and the treatment of ACID are different from that of Chhapaak,” Priyanka said, adding that ACID portrays the fight of
Ruhana, an acid attack victim from Uttar Pradesh who later becomes a role model for the society. “It’s based on a real incident that happened in Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh, but the identity of the victim has not been disclosed,” Priyanka said.
She said that the intention of the film was to highlight the brave girl who fought against all odds and established herself as an example for others. Ruhana and her widow mother Shabana were living hand to mouth and the acid attack, that too by a close relative, shattered all their dreams. But she fought back, Priyanka told, while describing the storyline.
“We attempted to portray and analyse in the film the psyche of those involved in an acid attack. We haven’t built up the scenes for mere visual effects, but have shot them realistically to make them convincing,” Priyanka said, adding that they didn’t attempt to dramatise any
sequence. Man Singh play the villain in the film. Mamta Singh as Shabana (Ruhana's mother) also has an important role to play.
Priyanka graduated in mass communication with specialisation in video production from St Xavier's College in 2014. She started working for a production company in Mumbai and later launched her own production firm where she has been working as an actor-director in short films and Web series.
The film is produced under the banner of PS Film Craft and presented by Sourya Music International Production. The story of the film has been penned by Arjanya Anand while Pankaj Uniyal has written the screenplay.
Man Singh, who plays the attacker in the film, wondered how someone could commit such as heinous crime. “I felt guilty while playing out that role,” he said.
Later in the day, both Priyanka and Man Singh met reporters and announced the release of their film.
