Aneet Padda’s next screen outing is shaping up to be a major leap. The young actor has been cast in a double role in Shakti Shalini, the new horror comedy directed by Aditya Sarpotdar, where she will play both a woman who rises to defend her family and a female spirit driven by betrayal and revenge. With Maddock backing another genre title rooted in Indian folklore, the film places Padda at the center of a story built on fear, power, and moral collision.
Box Office Worldwide has exclusively learned that Padda’s double role forms the core of Shakti Shalini, a film drawing from Bengali folklore and mythology. The supernatural thread is built around a woman who returns after a brutal death and begins targeting men, while the human conflict unfolds through Shakti’s transformation from a vulnerable daughter into a figure of resistance. That setup gives Padda room to explore two radically different energies within the same narrative, one haunted and destructive, the other grounded and defiant.
A Folklore Driven Battle Sits At The Heart Of Shakti Shalini
The film also stars Vishal Jethwa and Viineet Kumar Siingh. Sarpotdar, who directed Munjya, is helming the project, while Amar Kaushik is attached as producer and co-writer. Production had already begun in Mumbai by last month, with the team shooting in Madh Island on a specially constructed set designed to resemble a small town in West Bengal. The next schedule is expected to move to parts of Madhya Pradesh, including Datia, Gwalior, and Morena, giving the film a broader physical canvas to match its folklore-heavy mood.
That world-building is one reason the casting lands with extra weight. Shakti Shalini is not positioning Padda as just another young lead in a genre film, but as the performer carrying its central duel between terror and resilience. For an actor still in the early phase of her screen journey, that kind of responsibility can be transformative.
Why This Role Could Recast Padda’s Rising Career
Padda first reached a wider audience with Big Girls Don’t Cry in 2024, the coming-of-age series that streamed on Prime Video and introduced her as a fresh young face with strong screen presence. In 2025, she gained bigger visibility with Saiyaara, a release that significantly lifted her profile and placed her among the emerging names to watch.
What makes Shakti Shalini especially significant is the scale and risk built into the part. It gives her a performance-led genre film mounted on a larger canvas, places her opposite actors like Vishal Jethwa and Viineet Kumar Siingh, and teams her with a director who already scored with Munjya. More importantly, it asks her to hold together the emotional split at the center of the film. If Shakti Shalini delivers on that promise, it will not just mark another project in her filmography, it could become the film that proves she can anchor a mainstream genre story on her own terms.
Stay tuned with us for the latest news, Hindi box office news, Hollywood news, OTT news, the latest Bollywood news, and the latest box office news.
