Srijit Mukherji, the National award-winning Indian director, will be directing cricketer Mithali Raj’s biopic Shabaash Mithu, starring actor Taapsee Pannu.
Mukherji will be replacing director Rahul Dholakia, who on Tuesday tweeted that he will no longer be directing the film due to scheduling issues caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There are some films which you know you have to do. Shabaash Mithu was one of those films,” wrote Dholakia in his tweet.
He added that he was elated when he first read Shabaash Mithu‘s script written by Priya Aven and conceived by Ajit Andhare in November 2019. However, the pandemic unfortunately upset his schedule, rendering him unavailable for the completion of the film.
Shabaash Mithu is the biopic of Mithali Dorai Raj, India’s One Day International (ODI) captain and the highest run-scorer in women’s international cricket. She is also the only female cricketer to surpass the 7,000 run mark in Women’s ODI matches.
Dholakia said that the entire team was working towards telling the tale of the greatest woman cricketer.
“This film was always about passion- the passion of Mithali Raj, the greatest Indian woman cricketer ever, and her story which we were trying to tell. The passion of a studio head like Ajit Andhare, who sat with us on all discussions — in Covid, in lockdowns, at all times; the passion of a writer like Priya, who worked very hard to strike the balance between emotion and cricket; the passion of Taapsee, who learnt to play cricket so well that it was delight shooting with her; the passion of every team member, actor, player who was trying to help us achieve this dream,” he wrote.
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Shabaash Mithu‘s shooting had been delayed multiple times due to surging Covid-19 cases. In January 2020, while releasing the first-look poster of the film, makers had announced that the film will release in February, 2021.
The film went on floors more than a year later on April 1, 2021 and shooting was once again halted due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Shabaash Mithu marks the second collaboration of Mukherji with Andhare after Ray, the upcoming Netflix anthology.