Anushka Sharma's 'Chakda 'Xpress' Faces Uncertain Future

Chakda Xpress is the biopic of Jhulan Goswami, who is a former cricketer and one of the fastest bowlers. The movie exists but cannot be seen. It stars Anushka Sharma as Jhulan. The film was a part of Netflix's 2023 releases. Anushka was last seen opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Zero in 2018 and this movie was somewhat going to be her comeback. 

Chakda Xpress was going to release in October 2023, just before the World Cup. But by mid-September, the film's editor didn't get any reply from the team with any promotional strategy, which made it clear that it was not releasing. Since then, there has been total silence. What do you think has happened? 

The movie's work has been rocky from the beginning. When the player's rights came to Clean Slate, the writer of the film, Abhishek Banerjee, developed it into a script. He belongs to Jhulan's neighboring village, so he knew her name but had no idea about women's cricket like most of us. 

The film's first schedule was to be in April 2020, but in March came the lockdown. Later, Anushka announced her pregnancy, one of the producers pulled out. However, Karnesh bought back the rights and started to pitch for it again. Then, in 2022, Netflix came into the play, which made this theatrical release into an OTT. Netflix didn't demand any changes in the case of writing and, soon after the birth of her child, Anushka also started the training. 

Pratik Shah was the cinematographer of the film, who expressed how they were all excited about the movie, and they wanted it to be more of a personal biopic. The film was shot mostly with a hand-held camera to give the sport a physical and psychological presence. 

Netflix showed a teaser which was immediately as it was awkward and flat. It was not from a look test which was shot for an agency. Later, Netflix and Clean Slate Films terminated their four-year partnership. The reason is not clear. Maybe it was out of creative differences. 

We hope the film releases soon!