Indian actor Sheena Chohan, who made her Hindi-language feature film debut in the biopic “Sant Tukaram” earlier this year, has been cast as the lead in “Arjunanin Allirani,” a Tamil-language drama centered on folk artists and caste discrimination.

The film, written by acclaimed Tamil author B. Jeyamohan and directed by Vino Vikraman Pillai (“Kafir”), will feature music by legendary composer Ilaiyaraaja. The project marks Chohan’s entry into Tamil cinema after acting across Malayalam, Hindi and international productions.

“Arjunanin Allirani” follows two impoverished artists — a folk dance performer and a Dalit singer — whose relationship forms the heart of the narrative. The story traces the female lead’s journey through family tragedy and her eventual pursuit of justice through her art.

In the film, produced by Irfan Khan for EBG Films, Chohan will portray Rani, a character whose arc spans from her teenage years to middle age across four distinct life phases. The role requires extensive martial arts training, including Chilambattam, a traditional Tamil stick-fighting technique.

“Rani is a young woman who spends her formative years immersed in devotion, singing hymns to God in temples,” Pillai tells Variety. “Beginning with the vibrancy and innocence of her twenties, her life unfolds across four distinct phases, tracing her journey from youth to middle age. To authentically portray this evolution, the actress taking on the role must master martial arts, including Chilambattam. As the narrative moves through different eras, the character undergoes significant physical and emotional transformations, requiring the actress to adapt her appearance and presence accordingly.”

The director says that casting Chohan was “entirely serendipitous.” “From our very first conversation, I was struck by her deep passion and dedication to her craft,” he says. “When I shared the story of Allirani, she showed a genuine and immediate interest. The character of Rani is a powerful and resilient woman, whose journey spans from her teenage years to middle age. The role also demands extensive martial arts sequences, a challenge Sheena is exceptionally well suited for, given her many years of training and experience in martial arts.”

For Chohan, the role aligns with her longstanding commitment to socially grounded material. “I did so much theatre and acting training, that it’s a waste to do a flat character,” she tells Variety. “Also, if you have your acting skills sharpened, you can, and should, give what appears to be a one-note character more depth – of course the most important thing is to be a blank page for your director and give them what they want for the story, but no real people are shallow and morally simple, so I don’t like any of my characters to be.”

Chohan, who serves as United for Human Rights South Asia Ambassador, adds that her human rights advocacy has directly influenced her project choices. “I turn down so many films because of derogatory or degrading roles,” she says. “But the good news is that the industry is changing – with all of the good work of women like the Women’s Collective in Kerala, and women and men across the country and world pushing against discrimination – new characters and stories are being written which show women as equal citizens – real-life, breathing, thinking humans, not just pretty Christmas tree decorations.”

Chohan’s recent work includes Aditya Om’s “Sant Tukaram,” in which she portrayed Avali Jijabai opposite the title character in the Hindi biopic. The film was widely described as showcasing her quiet power and emotional depth. She describes her performance approach as rooted in thorough character research and technique developed during intensive training at The Acting Center in Los Angeles while working on the Hollywood film “Nomad.”

“What I learned was how to develop a character in terms of understanding their inner thoughts and motivations overall and in each scene,” she says. “So, while I read and watched everything connected to Avali Jijabai, including having the original 17th century historical texts read to me and working and eating with the village women who still work the fields Avali worked in, I then used all of that gathered information to truly understand and fit into her character, so that my reactions were natural.”

Reflecting on her Hindi debut, Chohan notes the significance of seeing the film play across theaters in Mumbai, where she is based. “After doing five years of theater, training in my craft, martial arts and dance in Kolkata, I shifted to Mumbai keeping it as a base but working pan India in different languages with legendary directors nationally and internationally,” she says. “But living in Mumbai, it was deeply special to see ‘Sant Tukaram’ playing across theatres here and release nationwide. Having friends and colleagues join me at the Mumbai – national premiere did feel like an arrival. But creatively, it was never a reset – it was a continuation.”

The actor has also completed J.D. Chakravarthy’s pan-India thriller “Jatasya Maranam Dhruvam,” in which she plays a police officer. “I literally followed a policewoman around into her dangerous job, in her home life – I did so much to get into the head-space of that character, and that too in such a dark, complex thriller, that I can only feel what I brought to the character gave the director an insight that he was desperate for,” she says.

Her upcoming slate includes the VFX-heavy streaming series “Bhaayava,” in which she portrays Lilith. The platform has not yet been locked as the production team completes extensive visual effects work. “I went from playing the wife of a saint, to a devil, and perhaps that’s what made me take the role – it was so different – I went from the most simple scenes in fields where we’ve worked in saris for a thousand years, to being flung out of a car in a harness for a flying scene after five hours of prosthetics in front of one of the biggest green screens in Mumbai,” she says. “However, again, the character was so rich – Lilith was Adam’s first wife in the bible – she was banished from Eden for refusing to be dominated by and obey every word from Adam – so that was a character I had to sink my teeth into.”

Chohan’s international credits include “Ant Story” (2013) directed by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, which played at the Shanghai and Dubai International Film Festivals. She has also appeared alongside Madhuri Dixit in Netflix series “The Fame Game” (2022) and Kajol in JioHotstar show “The Trial” (2023).

Her career began with a debut opposite Mammootty in the Malayalam-language film “The Train” (2011), directed by Jayaraj. Reflecting on her work with renowned actors including Mammootty, Dixit and Kajol, Chohan notes how different directors have shaped her approach. “Acting in India has changed a lot since I was launched by Mammootty – what my director Jayaraj wanted in terms of restraint on the set of ‘The Train’ was quite opposite to what Suparn Varma wanted on the set of ‘The Trial,’” she says. “For Jayaraj I was much more expressive but for Suparn I had to keep it subtle and do so much character research to get into her mind and be my character, without ‘acting.’ What I learned from these legends in terms of command and screen presence in many ways tie in with professionalism – they are really there, doing what they’re doing while they’re doing it.”

On balancing wider reach through big platforms versus roles that leave a lasting cultural impact, Chohan says, “What I care most about is character and story, so that’s what matters most, but of course, a rich, nuanced character in a well-told, original, larger-than-life, rooted story, that reaches the whole world – that’s the dream – and I want to live the dream.”