Parineeti Chopra received a lot of praise for stepping into the shoes of badminton star Saina Nehwal in the 2021 biopic of the athlete, titled 'Saina.' The actress was able to capture Saina's grit and determination by mirroring her on-court intensity. Parineeti's portrayal was lauded by both audiences and critics, marking it as one of the most talked-about performances of her career. However, after 5-6 years of its release, the biopic has become a talking point for social media users and film buffs ever since Parineeti unfollowed Saina on Instagram and now especially after Saina admitted that Parineeti was not her first choice to portray her role in the biopic.
Directed by Amol Gupte, the film did not do well at the box office, yet years later, post its release, the film is being majorly talked about. All of these conversations transpired after Parineeti unfollowed Saina on social media, and this got noticed by netizens. Saina had earlier mentioned that the two never formed any kind of friendship and had only met each other owing to professional commitments. In a recent interview with Vickey Lalwani, she reiterated the same thought.
She said, "I didn't know that she unfollowed me. Maybe she was focused on work, and once the film was done, she moved on to her next project." Saina further went on to add, "Friendship requires spending a lot of time together, but there wasn't enough time since the film had to be released quickly. We weren't meeting every day."
The badminton champion mentioned that she had helped Parineeti develop skills so that she could look like a pro and a natural while portraying her role. Saina was also extremely appreciative of the actress.
She said, "I helped her with skills — how to serve, movement on court, forehand and backhand. She may have also observed my behaviour and how I speak to portray it on screen. She worked very hard and performed extremely well. I even got emotional watching the film."
During the course of the conversation, Saina was also asked who she would have portray her role if her biopic were ever made again. The superstar sports personality did not bat an eyelid before answering the question. She immediately named Shraddha Kapoor.
Saina mentioned, "We are still in touch, and I've met her many times. She's a very sweet girl. She had agreed to do the film but had to opt out due to dengue."
Even though Saina has publicly spoken about the whole Instagram 'follow '- ' unfollow' business between her and Parineeti, the actress is yet to comment. There has been no public comment from Parineeti's side on this matter so far.
