- Priyanka Chopra’s Purple Pebble Pictures is associated with Hunkkaar: The Roar.
- Chopra backed the teaser, writing, “Some stories don’t just demand to be heard… They demand to be felt.”
- Aneet Padda plays a 17-year-old whose accusation sets a larger battle over truth in motion.
- Padda was 19 when she auditioned and 20 when she filmed the series.
- The courtroom drama premieres on JioHotstar on September 25.
Priyanka Chopra has backed plenty of projects over the years, but Hunkkaar: The Roar fits particularly well with the kind of storytelling she has increasingly pursued through her production banner, Purple Pebble Pictures.
The courtroom drama, produced by Birla Studios and Applause Entertainment in association with Purple Pebble Pictures and Mangata Films Production, centers on a disturbing accusation made by 17-year-old Meenu Rawat, played by Aneet Padda. Her allegation against a powerful cult leader sets off a chain reaction involving the police, media, the legal system and public opinion.
Chopra herself gave the project a public push when she shared its teaser on Instagram, writing, “Some stories don’t just demand to be heard… They demand to be felt.”
That line offers a clue to why Hunkkaar may have caught her attention.
A story about who gets to control the truth
At its core, Hunkkaar is not simply a courtroom story. It is about what happens when one person tells her version of an experience and everyone else begins supplying their own.
That idea clearly resonated with Padda, who spoke about the psychological pressure at the trailer launch.
“Personally, for me, what stood out the most was the fact that as soon as somebody shares a personal experience in public, it quickly becomes everybody’s matter.”
She continued, “You may start questioning your own truth when you hear so much about it from other people.”
For Chopra, whose production company has been associated with projects centered on distinctive voices and socially relevant subjects, Hunkkaar offers exactly the kind of material that can extend beyond a conventional crime thriller.
The series places its characters in a conflict where power and perception are almost as important as evidence. The teaser introduces Padda’s Meenu accusing the influential figure known as “Baapji,” while Fatima Sana Shaikh plays ACP Jasleen Singh Soni and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub plays journalist Amitabh.
- YouTube youtu.be
Why Aneet Padda’s role matters
There is another reason Hunkkaar is arriving at an interesting moment: Aneet Padda is coming off the success of Saiyaara, which turned her into one of Bollywood’s newest recognizable young faces.
But Hunkkaar was actually filmed before Saiyaara. Padda herself described it as a project that had been part of her journey for some time.
At the trailer launch, she revealed that she was only 19 when she auditioned.
“I was quite young when I auditioned. Moreover, the show tackles a very powerful and sensitive topic for somebody so young to fully understand.”
The character is 17, and Padda said the proximity in age helped her understand Meenu’s emotional state.
“Something terrible happened to her. She possibly couldn’t even articulate it to herself, let alone the world. Yet, she had to do it. It kind of felt seamless because I was 19. I shot it when I was 20.”
A different kind of post-Saiyaara test
The timing gives Hunkkaar an additional layer. Padda is no longer arriving as an unfamiliar young actor. After Saiyaara, audiences already have expectations of her.
But this is a dramatically different role.
Padda said the script itself made her question the character’s version of events because of the competing perspectives surrounding her.
“The more I was reading the script, the more I kept on feeling like ‘Am I lying?’. This is because all the other perspectives are so strong that it's almost making me question myself.”
She recalled an acting workshop in which her teacher Rachit asked her to respond instinctively to questions about whether she was a victim and how she felt.
“But that answer came so instinctively. It was an answer that reflected fear yet anger, unsure yet sure.”
That contradiction appears to be central to Hunkkaar — and possibly the reason Chopra chose to put her name behind it.
Rather than another star vehicle built around spectacle, the project gives its young lead a difficult story about truth, power and the consequences of being heard.
And Chopra’s message about the series may be the simplest explanation for her involvement: “Some stories don’t just demand to be heard… They demand to be felt.”
Hunkkaar: The Roar premieres on JioHotstar on September 25.
