Eshika Dey to star in Ranu Mondal biopic

Ranu Mondal had lived a hand-to-mouth existence at Ranaghat, West Bengal before a video of her belting a Lata Mangeshkar song at a railway station went viral in 2019.

Soon, an impressed composer-singer Himesh Reshammiya had her perform on his singing reality show Superstar Singer where he offered her a chance to sing for his movie Happy Hardy And Heer (2020). Mondal ended up singing ‘Teri Meri Kahani’ for the film. 

Now, Bengali filmmaker Hrishikesh Mondal [no relation] is making a Hindi biopic on the singer, starring Eshika Dey, titled Miss Ranu Maria.

Sharing her happiness at bagging the role, Dey told Cinestaan, “An actor is always greedy for good roles. For me, a good character is one that has a lot of shades. I got that through this film. Plus, I've received the chance to play a lead character in a Hindi film for the first time. So, obviously, I am very happy. It was unexpected and I am very lucky to have got this character.” 

Explaining why the role means a lot to her, the actress added, “In older films, we have seen characters of villains or heroes who stay that way throughout the film. They will have no other shades. But this doesn’t happen in real life. If you look around, you won’t find anyone who is completely good or completely bad. I will always be thrilled to play such characters.” 

Dey has acted in the Hindi movies Pari (2018) and Laal Kaptaan (2019) and the first season of the Netflix show Sacred Games. She has also appeared in the Bengali movies Purbo Poschim Dokkhin Uttor Ashbei (2019) and Golper Mayajal (2021).

The actress says that Hrishikesh Mondal has been meeting Ranu Mondal for a while to prepare for the movie. “Her story of the present era won’t be shown much in the movie,” said Dey. “Her life journey has been very interesting. It has huge ups and downs.”

She added, “Ranu Mondal’s singing power makes her exceptional and unique. We will be showing this quality of hers. She was begging for 12 years at a railway station but she could sing so well and in tune. And she has never learnt to sing. Every common person has something uncommon, which can go viral anytime.” 

Shortly after entering the spotlight, Ranu courted controversy after she had made certain statements and an incident with a fan. “She was also trolled. She had passed a few comments but that was because of her mental state and what she was going through,” said Dey. 

Miss Ranu Maria will go on the floors in November and the film will be shot in Ranaghat, Kolkata and Mumbai.