Sadia Khateeb, a young girl from Doda’s Bhaderwah who featured as the lead actress in Vindhu Vinod Chopra’s Shikara in her Bollywood debut, is going to make a second appearance, this time with Akshay Kumar
The two have been paired together for Rakhsha Bandan, a family drama revolving around the brother-sister relationship in wake of the menace of dowry, which is set to release across India on August 11.
Born in 1997, Sadia was pursuing engineering at the Government College of Engineering and Technology when in 2017, at the age of 20 years, she got a call that changed her life forever.
On the other side of the phone call was Indu Sharma, a casting director from Mumbai who sought a meeting and in the next few weeks, she was chosen to play Shanti in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Shikara.
The movie, which narrates the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits when terrorism was at its peak in the 1990s in Kashmir and got rave reviews, was filmed over a period of three years. Sadia was also solicited to work for Imtiaz Ali’s Laila Majnu. However, she thought it was a prank call and refused to work after which the role was performed by Tripti Dimry.
Although her performance in Shikara won her accolade, she has a non-film background. She had never acted before she got the lead role in Shikara, an act for which she credits her brother.
“Even though I wanted to do acting and wanted to change my base from Delhi to Mumbai, convincing my parents was a task. It is my brother who told my parents that they should support me to achieve my dream of becoming an actress. Of course, I am young so my parents were worried about how I will manage alone in Mumbai, so my sister came along with me. In my personal life, I really celebrate the sibling bond that we have,” she said in an interview.
While her second movie set to be released, the Bhaderwah starlet has started promotional events. In an Instagram reel shot in a car, she is seen asked Akshay Kumar to say something in Kashmir.
“Sadia Khateeb cha wariya asal koor,” Kumar responds.
“I clearly remember that while I was promoting Shikara, one journalist told me that I would face difficulties and hardships in getting my second film but I didn’t really bother about it. I waited for so long and then Raksha Bandhan came my way. I picked it up because back then, it was the best offer amongst others but when I saw the film recently, I just thanked Allah miyan for sending this film to me since this is exactly what I wanted,” she said in another interview recently.
For Sadia, Raksha Bandhan is a very special film for her career because it was her father who encouraged her to do it. “I have more reasons to be happy as my father, who was battling with Covid-19 came back home recovered and said, ‘Go do Raksha Bandhan’. Now I can only thank him for this advice,” she said.