Actor Taapsee Pannu, who will soon be seen as an athlete in Akarsh Khurana directorial film ‘Rashmi Rocket’, says she broke down while enacting ‘boys locker room’ scene in the film. The film focuses on the gender biases that some female sportspersons face.

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“Mai foot foot ke roi thi us din (I broke down and cried a lot on the sets that day). It was the day we shot the locker room scene. I was to be locked with the boys in their locker room. That day, I could not step out of my van till the time we started shooting. There was a whirlwind of emotions pent up inside me and it came out during the scene,” Taapsee Pannu told Navbharat Times in an interview.

Rashmi Rocket, that also stars Supriya Pathak and Abhishek Banerjee,  is about a young girl from a small village, who wins accolades for the country as a professional runner but things change for the worse when she is called in for a gender verification test. The film is set in Kutch.

Last week, Taapsee talked about the hard work and pain that went into her performance. Sharing that she hurt her leg during the process, she told PTI that she got ‘over-enthusiastic about the whole running part’ and injured her leg on the third day of her shoot.

In the past , Taapsee also called the film the most challenging in many ways.

Also Read: ‘Rashmi Rocket’ a dramatised account of women athletes’ struggles, says director

Set in Kutch, Gujarat, “Rashmi Rocket” sta

“It has been challenging both physically and emotionally,” she told Bollywood Hungama.

A still from her upcoming film shows Taapsee, with her back to the camera, showed off enviably ripped muscles.

In the trailer too, she can be seen as a National-level player who is tagged ‘mardaana’ for she is ‘not conventionally feminine’. Her achievements, medals, fame, all snatched away in a matter of seconds when she’s accused of lying about her gender and competing in women’s games. This was followed by ban on her. Then, a ban. Then, a case. Mudslinging, public opinion made and broken, and the customary Bollywoodised crescendo of tears, drama and the promise to rise back up. And a lingering memory of Dutee Chand from 2014.

The film is produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Neha Anand and Pranjal Khandhdiya, and has been written by Nanda Periyasamy, Aniruddha Guha and Kanika Dhillon.

The film is set to release on October 15 on the OTT platform ZEE5.