Kajol returns to the big screen after a year-long break with Helicopter Eela. In the film, the actress plays a single mother who wanted to be singer but gave it up to raise her son.
Directed by Pradeep Sarkar, Helicopter Eela focuses on the close relationship between mother and son which is fractured when he grows up.
Eela (Kajol) has been an overprotective mother and can't let go when her son, played by Riddhi Sen, attends college. She decides to attend the same college as him and further faces censure from him for controlling his life.
The new poster highlights that possessive relationship as a smiling Kajol is shown handling the strings of a puppet version of her son. The duo are shown against the backdrop of the college that, we assume, the two will attend together. The poster's tagline reads, ‘She is here, there and everywhere..’.
In a press release, the actress revealed that she was able to have a real connection with her character. "She loves her son unconditionally and has built her life around him. But as he grows up, she finds herself becoming more and more dispensable. She has also put her life and dreams on hold, like so many mother’s do. This is a life situation that so many women face once their kids grow up. And, one that I will inevitably face is, what do I do now? How do I hold on to my baby? In a way, Helicopter Eela is a coming-of-age film, more for Eela rather than it is for her son!"
The family film is produced by Kajol's husband and actor Ajay Devgn and Jayantilal Gada (Popular Entertainment Network India Ltd.).
Devgn said, "I was drawn to the story of this loving but difficult relationship between a mother and son. The script told a beautiful story, of a journey that all parents face, but it is especially true and unique to mothers and their sons. The characters played by Kajol and Riddhi Sen are extremely strong and they will have an astonishing connect with the audience across the globe."
The story is written by Mitesh Shah and Anand Gandhi, with Shah writing the dialogues. The film is adapted from Gandhi's Gujarati play Beta Kagdo.
This angle of a parent and child attending the same educational institution hasn't been explored much. Director Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari made her directorial debut with Nil Battey Sannata (2016), starring Swara Bhasker. She attends the same school as her daughter to encourage her to excel in studies.
Recently, actress Melissa McCarthy starred in Life Of The Party (2018) where she plays a woman who attends the same university as her daughter to complete her degree after her husband decides he wants a divorce.
An early Hollywood comedy, Back To School (1986), starring legendary Rodney Dangerfield also explored the same theme. Dangerfield is an unreducated but rich businessman who enrolls in college to show his son the way, but learns that education can't be bought.
Helicopter Eela, which will be distributed internationally by Eros International, is due to be released on 14 September 2018.