Saina (film)

Saina is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language biographical sports film directed by Amole Gupte and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Sujay Jairaj and Rashesh Shah under the banner of T-Series and Front Foot Pictures. The film is based on the life of Badminton player Saina Nehwal. It stars Parineeti Chopra who will play the titular role as Saina Nehwal. The film was initially set to release in September 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Finally it was theatrical released on 26 March 2021.
Production.
Development.
Saina Nehwal revealing the details of the film, on her Twitter account announced the film on 26 April 2017. Earlier, Shraddha Kapoor was signed to play Nehwal's role, and she even started filming in September 2018 after training, but later she opted out of the film due to health issues. On 15 March 2019, it was confirmed by T-Series head honcho Bhushan Kumar that Shraddha Kapoor will not be playing the role of Nehwal. In a statement they said, "Due to circumstances beyond her control, the actress kept giving other films priority over the national badminton champion’s biopic, so the makers have decided to go ahead with Chopra."
In June, Manav Kaul was finalized to play the role of Pullela Gopichand who is Nehwal's coach.
Training.
From mid June, Kapoor is training herself in playing badminton and practicing the stances of Nehwal. As many as 12 courts were recreated to represent international venues where Saina Nehwal has played.
Soundtrack.
The soundtrack is composed by Amaal Mallik and the lyrics are written by Manoj Muntashir and Kunaal Vermaa.