Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway: Meet the woman who inspired Rani Mukerji's role

Rani Mukerji stars in Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway. The movie follows the titular character as she fights against the system in foreign land for the custody of her children. The movie was released on March 17 and as per Rani, it is a tribute to women and mothers. Since the film is based on true events, there is a lot of curiosity around the real-life character who has inspired the storyline.  

About Sagarika Bhattacharya and her family   

Sagarika Bhattacharya and her husband Anurup Bhattacharya got married in 2007. After their wedding, they moved to Norway. When Sagarika was expecting her first child, she returned to Kolkata and delivered her son Abhigyan, who started showing symptoms similar to autism patients. The mother and son returned to Norway in 2009. 

In 2010, Sagarika gave birth to her second child, a daughter and named her Aishwarya. At that time, Abhigyan had started going to kindergarten.

In 2011, both Sagarika and Anurup were declared unfit for parenting by the Norwegian Child Welfare Services. The authorities took both their kids and placed them into foster care till they turned 18. Sagarika was also labelled an unfit mother. She used to feed her kids with hands, which was considered 'force feeding' in Norway. She used to make her children sleep in the same bed which was frowned upon in the country.

This led to a lot of struggles, and after a long battle and help from the Indian government, Sagarika was able to win back the custody of her children. 

Sagarika Bhattacharya on Rani Mukerji playing her

The life of Sagarika Bhattacharya is now the subject of the film and Rani Mukerji is portraying the character. During one of the promotional events of the film, Sagarika Bhattacharya watched the trailer of the film and was moved to tears. She said, "I want to thank Rani Mukerji for channeling the grief and struggles that I went through to win back my children. She is a mother herself and I thank her for bringing a mother’s painful journey on screen with so much dignity that I broke down while seeing her in the trailer.”

"It’s hard to put into words how it feels seeing my story being told. Watching the trailer, I felt like I was reliving my battle," she concluded.