Nandita Das goes the extra mile for her film

Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Rasika Dugal recently started shooting for their next film, which is based on the life of controversial poet and writer, Saadat Hasan Manto. Nawazuddin plays Manto and Rasika is playing his wife, Safia Manto, in the film, which will be helmed by

Nandita Das (right). And it appears Nandita is leaving no stone unturned to ensure her references are accurate and she gets the look and feel of the film right.

A source says, “While Nawazuddin has enough material to draw from for his character, Nandita helped Rasika a lot so she could gain insight into Safia’s personality. It was a daunting task to research Safia, as not much is written about her, and the director did her best to provide the actor with information about Safia’s personality, based on the research she did while scripting the film.”

The source adds that Nandita helped Rasika contact Manto’s daughters Nighat, Nuzhat and Nusrat in Lahore, Pakistan, so the actor could learn more about Safia.

Speaking about her research, Rasika says, “I spoke to Nuzhat before we started filming. She had seen the photos of my first look, which came out a few days ago, and I was delighted that she thought I resembled her mother. They must feel that their story is in good hands and that we will do our best to tell the story sensitively.”

NANDITA HELPED RASIKA A LOT SO SHE COULD GAIN INSIGHT INTO SAFIA’S PERSONALITY. IT WAS A DAUNTING TASK TO RESEARCH SAFIA, AS NOT MUCH IS WRITTEN ABOUT HER.