Soni

Soni (2019)

सोनी

Soni, a young policewoman in Delhi, and her superintendent, Kalpana, have collectively taken on a growing crisis of violent crimes against women. However, their alliance suffers a major setback when Soni is transferred out for alleged misconduct on duty.

Date of release
2019-01-18
TMDB
6.8 / 10 (46)
Runtime
1h 37m
Genres
Drama, Crime
Director
Ivan Ayr

Casting

Interesting facts

Soni is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language crime drama film directed by Ivan Ayr. Produced by Kimsi Singh and Kartikeya Narayan Singh, the film stars Geetika Vidya Ohlyan and Saloni Batra in the lead roles. It was written by Ayr and Kislay and chronicles the life of police officer Soni (Ohlyan) and her superintendent in Delhi Police Kalpana (Batra), who deal with crimes against women in the city.

Production

Ivan Ayr studied screenwriting and film direction at the San Francisco Film Society and directed such short films as Lost and Found and Quest for a Different Outcome during the time. Ayr decided to make Soni in 2014 when he was reading articles reporting that Delhi had been put under the "spotlight of shame" for not being safe for women, especially after the 2012 Delhi gang rape.

Ayr said that the gang rape incident prompted him to write a story, "may be the seed was sown then but it took time to settle in the subconscious". Pre-production started in November 2016; Ayr spent time with several Delhi police personnel and observed their "daily grind, the dynamics and hierarchies within".

Geetika Vidya Ohlyan was studying at Delhi University and was also involved with street and stage plays. On 30 December 2015, she got a call from a senior theatre personnel who told her about an "amazing role"; this was followed by a call from a member of the directorial team who wanted her to "self-tape" an audition for the film.

The actors did workshops together and worked on their body language and posture. Ohlyan said she picked Puma as a reference for her body language; "the stillness that the animal possesses, its incessant alertness at the back of its head". She felt the character had to "look stiff and poised, but be ready to pounce because you are always alert".

Ohlyan and Batra also visited local police stations, where they spent time with female police officers and observed their mannerisms and routine. Ohlyan met the station house officer of her university for research. She observed that there were several occasions when the station officer could not go home to her family: "I saw how she had an entire sleeping area set up at her police station." Ohlyan said that she realised the difference between the…

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