Shalini Pandey Reveals How Charan Seva Scene In Maharaj Affected Her: Didn't Realise What...

Maharaj, starring Jaideep Ahlawat, Junaid Khan and Shalini Pandey, has been in the news ever since the makers announced the release date. The release of the movie was temporarily halted by the Gujarat High Court following a petition from the members of the Vaishnavite Pustimargi sect, who raised concerns about the representation of religious beliefs in the movie. After a few roadblocks, the movie was able to release on June 21 on Netflix.

The movie is receiving mixed responce from the audience, but the actors are garnering positive reviews for their performance. Speaking of which, Shalini recently opened up about the rape scene in the movie where her character is forced to engage in s** with the self-styled godman Maharaj, played by Jaideep. She revealed that the scene impacted her deeply.

I did not realise what impact it had on me: Shalini Pandey

In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Shalini highlighted the emotional toll she felt after filming the rape scene. She shared that when she did till the time she actually did Charan Seva scene with Maharaj, she didn't realise what impact it had on her. Adding to it, she said, "I did the scene and suddenly, I went out and I told my team I don’t want to be in a closed room, I need time, I need some fresh air, I am getting a little anxious."

In the film, Jaideep plays the role of a self-styled godman in the 1800s who has created a myth around himself that sleeping with him is holy in somewhat and society believes him blindly. He calls this activity as charan seva where women are made to believe that they have to submit themselves to him.

Shalini continued that she told her director Siddharth P Malhotra and Jaideep about it and they understood her situation.

I was like bevakoof hai Kishori: Shalini Pandey

The actress, who plays the role of Kishori, further opened up about her character and said that her ideologies in real life are "very different" and when she read the script, she thought her character, Kishori, as a stupid woman. “Playing Kishori who is such a naive sweet… Initially, when I read it, I was like bevakoof hai yeh toh (she is stupid) but then I realised she is not stupid, she just doesn’t know any better. She was conditioned so much that she believed everything she was doing,” Shalini said.