May 04, 2026 2:50pm IST
Chitrangda Singh on Her Refreshing Pivot in ‘Maatrubhumi’: ‘I Embraced the Softness’
Chitrangda Singh, paired with Salman Khan for the first time in “Maatrubhumi: May War Rest In Peace,” is excited for the audience to see a whole new side of her in the film. In an exclusive chat with Variety India, she talks about the brief she got for the character, how she slipped into it and what makes it so different from the women she has played on screen before
“Well, the fact was that they didn't want me to look like Chitrangda at all. That's one thing that was very clear.” Speaking about how she went about it, she elaborates, " The usual actor tools, of course. I think when we worked on the hair, the clothes, etc. I just suddenly looked like another person. I started to behave differently, sit differently. My whole body language changed!"
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Elaborating on her character, Chitrangda reveals, “This character is that of an absolutely simple woman who's totally in love with the family, the husband, the kids, and believes ‘My house is my temple’.”
Over a two-decade-long career in film, Chitrangda has played different shades of women on screen. In “Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi,” she was the London-returned Geeta, who ends up teaching and doing social work in an Indian village. In “Desi Boyz,” she was Tanya, a college professor. More recently, Singh was seen in the Netflix film “Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders” as Meera Bansal, a member of a powerful media family.
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Evidently, Singh loves that her character in “Maatrubhumi”, and says it is a refreshing new turn from the previous female characters she has played. “It was very nice to play somebody who is so soft, giving and totally invested. I think it’s in your being, more than just dialogues, which was what I was trying to do with the character. I hope it comes across like that. It's very different from the kind of women that Sudhir (Mishra) would write. I loved it and really enjoyed playing just a simple woman.”
Formerly titled "Battle of Galwan", and based on the 2020 India-China skirmishes in the Galwan Valley, “Maatrubhumi: May War Rest In Peace” is a military drama directed by Apoorva Lakhia and produced by Salman Khan Films. The film dropped a teaser in December 2025 and then underwent a title change. Initially slated for an April 2026 release, a new release date has not yet been confirmed, though an August release is being eyed. Multiple songs from the film, which is being called a “Himesh Reshammiya musical,” have been released.
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