Shalini Pandey’s Hindi film takes off

Arjun Reddy Girl Shalini Pandey, despite having a solid beginning to her Telugu film career, hasn’t managed to get many meaty roles later. Mahanati, 118, Iddari Lokam Okkate and Nisabdham couldn’t quite do justice to her potential and in the Tamil industry too, the scenario was not any different. In what was a correct decision at the right time of her career, Shalini prioritised Bollywood over other industries and the start hasn’t been bad so far.

Her first film Bamfaad opposite Paresh Rawal’s son Aditya Rawal had an OTT release during the pandemic. However, Shalini’s major break came when she was picked by the Yash Raj Films group for a multiple film contract. And what better than a film with Ranveer Singh to begin that? The project titled Jayesh Bhai Jordaar was set for a Gandhi Jayanti release in 2020 until COVID-19 played the party pooper. Even before the release of this film in 2021, the actress has started her second project with YRF today.

Shalini’s third Hindi film, titled Maharaja, has her paired alongside Aamir Khan's son Junaid Khan, in what will be the latter’s Bollywood debut. Junaid Khan has been prepping for the film for a long time now where he’ll play the role of a journalist. Maharaja is based on an incident in the 1800s where a religious head took legal action against a newspaper that blew the lid off a notorious chapter in his life.  Looks like Shalini has an interesting film on her hand.