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.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country is engaged in what he described as a “total war” with the U.S., Israel and Europe.

In an interview published Saturday by Iranian state media, Pezeshkian said that he believes the Western powers want to bring Iran “to its knees,” The Times of Israel reported.

“In my opinion, we are at total war with the United States, Israel and Europe,” Pezeshkian said. “They want to bring our country to its knees.”

Pezeshkian argued that the current conflict is more complex than the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, saying his country is now under pressure “from every angle,” according to The Times of Israel.

IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER REITERATES ‘SERIOUS DAMAGE’ TO NUCLEAR FACILITIES, DESPITE AYATOLLAH’S COMMENTS

“If one understands it well, this war is far more complex and difficult than that war. In the war with Iraq, the situation was clear, they fired missiles, and we knew where to hit,” Pezeshkian said, according to The Jerusalem Post. 

“Here, they are besieging us from every aspect, they are creating problems for us in terms of livelihood, culturally, politically, and security-wise.”

Despite the strain, Pezeshkian claimed Iran’s military emerged stronger following its June conflict with Israel, according to The Times of Israel.

“Our beloved military forces are doing their jobs with strength and now, in terms of equipment and manpower, despite all the problems we have, they are stronger than when they attacked. So if they want to attack, they will naturally face a more decisive response,” he said.

IRAN’S LEADER THREATENS ‘EVEN BIGGER BLOW’ AGAINST US, TRUMP SAYS HE’S IN ‘NO RUSH’ TO TALK

The interview with Pezeshkian was released ahead of a planned meeting this coming week at Mar-a-Lago between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Tensions remain high following a brief but intense air conflict in June that was kicked off by Israel. 

The fighting resulted in roughly 1,100 deaths in Iran, including senior military commanders and nuclear scientists, while Iranian missile attacks killed 28 people in the Jewish State.

TRUMP’S BIG ACHIEVEMENT IN BOMBING IRAN, STILL SLAMMED BY CRITICS – AS HE SUGGESTS ‘REGIME CHANGE’

On June 22, President Donald Trump announced U.S. forces had launched attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, including Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

“Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror,” the president said. “Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”

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A US-brokered ceasefire between Iran and Israel took effect on June 24.

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed to this report.

Published on
26/12/2025 – 8:00 GMT+1

2025 is coming to an end, and among the major developments that made international headlines was the turbulent relationship between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US).

Together with Euronews’ Brussels correspondent and US expert Stefan Grobe, Brussels, My Love? tries to make sense of what happened between the EU and the US in the last year, looking ahead to 2026.

What happened in 2025?

2025 started with Donald Trump entering his second term as US President. His administration brought significant changes to global politics, including gradually cutting funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and escalating a trade war with China.

The EU was not exempt from these economic tensions. To prevent further worsening of the transatlantic partnership, in the summer of 2025, Brussels struck a deal with Washington, which many described as an unequal agreement.

According to Grobe, the EU “didn’t have much of a choice” and attempted to negotiate, knowing that this was only the beginning of Trump’s term.

Yet, in the view of Stefan Grobe, not everything that Donald Trump criticised and implemented in the economic sector was wrong: “There were certain things where Trump pointed the finger at the right issues. For example, China’s behaviour in global markets and other countries, and we had to do something.”

What to expect from 2026?

The US-EU relationship further escalated at the beginning of December, following President Trump’s interview with media outlet Politico and the release of the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy for the US.

“Trump hates us, there’s no other way to describe it, he despises us,” Grobe said.

And this can be an occasion, according to Grobe, for Europe to “figure out what to do next”.

Send us your feedback to Brusselsmylove@euronews.com.

Additional sources • David Brodheim sound editor and mixer.