'Saina' trailer: Parineeti Chopra packs a punch as the famous badminton player

Parineeti Chopra packs a powerful punch as ace badminton player Saina Nehwal in the latter's biopic called 'Saina'. The trailer was released on Monday, and gives a glimpse of the player's initial year's of struggle before she an Olympic medal. 

The film has been directed by Amole Gupte and is set for a theatrical release on March 26. 

Actress Shraddha Kapoor was initially cast in the film but she opted out and Parineeti stepped. 

 At the film's trailer launch, when asked if she felt an added pressure to pick up a role that Kapoor had already started preparing for, Chopra said focused only on playing the part to the best of her ability. "I had only my pressure and that of my director. I wanted to impress him and work hard to learn the sport. I didn't take any external pressure.

"The pressure was me, my coach approving what I'm learning, my director approving what I'm looking like on-screen. There was no other pressure," Chopra told reporters at the event.

Watch the trailer here

Backed by Bhushan Kumar led T-Series, 'Saina' marks the 32-year-old actor's return to the big screen post her 2019 comedy 'Jabariya Jodi'. Chopra said though under "immense pressure" to deliver, the team benefitted extensively with the access provided by Nehwal. "We had full support of Saina. She gave us access to her life. I would call her, video call her and she would answer all my questions. That way pressure management was better.

"I already had the pressure to learn badminton, I couldn't have taken anything else. I would've crumbled and wouldn't have been able to concentrate. Doing 'Saina' is a challenge for me," she added.

Chopra's journey with the movie began two years ago when she heard the narration. Despite knowing the broad strokes of Nehwal's life and achievements -- from being the first Indian to win two singles gold medals (2010 and 2018) in Commonwealth Games to becoming the poster girl for badminton in the country -- Chopra said the script was a revelation.

"Amol sir spent time with the family and got the real emotions out. What the mother felt when Saina was eating a meal, what the father felt when they didn't have money, what the sister felt when she was training. The behind the scenes of the world class player. That was a winning point for me," she added.

This is Parineeti's first attempt at a biopic. She was recently seen in Netflix film 'The Girl on The Train'.

After featuring in several romantic-comedies, from 'Hasee Toh Phasee', 'Meri Pyaari Bindu', to 'Namaste England', Chopra said she wanted to break the girl-next-door image.

"I was searching for a challenge like this. The films I was doing were pretty much an extension of me and also what writers and directors thought I was. When this film came to my life, I was looking to surprise everyone, do something I'm not known for. So a sports biopic of a person who's still in action is exactly the kind of role I would have done, even if it was fiction. Biopic was an added bonus," she added.

'Saina' is set to release theatrically on March 26.