Why did Neena Gupta treat Mumbai's dabbawala to a meal at Shiv Shastri Balboa's poster launch?

The cast of Shiv Shastri Balboa — Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, Sharib Hashmi and Nargis Fakri — revealed a poster of the film featuring Mumbai dabbawalas

Neena Gupta

On Monday, National Award-winning actress Neena Gupta, who is the female protagonist of Shiv Shastri Balboa, treated the dabbawalas of Mumbai to a mouthwatering meal while revealing a new poster for the film. She attended the event with co-stars Anupam Kher, Nargis Fakri, and Sharib Hashmi.

Speaking at the event, Neena said, "Dabbawalas are the lifeline of Mumbai, and this is something that people outside the city might not be able to understand. I am basically from Delhi, so when I came to Mumbai, I understood their contribution to our daily lives. It's quite emotional. For instance, if I want to send my daughter homecooked food while she is at work in another part of Mumbai, I can send it through dabbawalas, who collect the food from me and send it to my daughter's office. This way, she gets to eat the food that I prepared for her with so much love. In other words, dabbawalas are the original home-delivery men."

The poster of the film features Anupam Kher with boxing gloves on, which has created a lot of curiosity around the film. And at the event, Neena gave some hints about the story of the film. Speaking about the title of the film, the veteran actress said, "You must be wondering who Shiv Shastri is and who is Balboa, and why are these names ajeeb? My name in the film is Elsa. Even though the names of the characters in the film are different, the film is quite relatable, and there is nothing ajeeb in the story. It is actually an inspiring tale. The story of the film addresses an important issue with a dash of humour. It is a comedy film, but an important story."

The first poster of the film was revealed by boxing champion Mary Kom last week. Directed by Ajayan Venugopalan and produced by Kishore Varieth, Shiv Shastri Balboa also stars Jugal Hansraj, Anil Joseph and Alison Corriere, among others. It releases in theatres on February 10.

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