Mili (2022 film)

Mili is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language survival thriller film directed by Mathukutty Xavier and produced by Boney Kapoor. The film stars Janhvi Kapoor, Sunny Kaushal and Manoj Pahwa. A remake of the director's own 2019 Malayalam film Helen, it follows a woman stuck in a freezer fighting to stay alive.

Principal photography took place from August to November 2021 in Mumbai and Dehradun. The film, featuring music composed by +more_R. _Rahman'>A. R. Rahman and lyrics by Javed Akhtar, was released on 4 November 2022.

Premise

Mili Naudiyal, a 24-year-old graduate in BSc Nursing, gets stuck in a freezer, and has to fight to stay alive.

Cast

Janhvi Kapoor as Mili Naudiyal * Sunny Kaushal as Sameer * Manoj Pahwa as Mr. Naudiyal * Hasleen Kaur as Hasleen * Rajesh Jais as Mohan Chachu * Vikram Kochhar as Sudheer Malkoti * Anurag Arora as SI Satish Rawat * Sanjay Suri as Inspector Ravi Prasad

Production

In August 2020, Boney Kapoor bought the rights to remake the Malayalam film Helen (2019) in Hindi. The title of the remake, Mili, was announced a year later. +more Mathukutty Xavier, the director of the original, was retained for the remake too. He recalled in 2021 that he had refused an offer to remake Helen in Hindi, but when contacted by Kapoor who wanted his daughter Janhvi to star in a potential remake, agreed. Noble Babu Thomas who portrayed a lead character in Helen, served as the remake's creative director. Ritesh Shah was hired as the screenwriter to help adapt the script to suit Hindi-speaking audiences. Ranjith Ambady, the makeup artist from the original, was retained in the same position.

Janhvi portrays the title character, Mili Naudiyal. Sunny Kaushal, who portrays Mili's boyfriend, sought not to imitate Noble Babu Thomas, who portrayed the role in the original, but give his own interpretation. +more Mathukutty Xavier considered having Boney portray Mili's father, but decided against it as he felt it was "gimmicky" to have one's real father portray their screen father too. The role went to Manoj Pahwa.

Principal photography was supposed to have begun in June 2021, but got delayed due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India. It ultimately commenced on 5 August 2021 in Mumbai. +more The scenes depicting Mili stuck in a freezer were shot in an actual freezer. These scenes, along with other indoor scenes were filmed in Mumbai, while the scenes depicting the mall where Mili works were filmed at Dehradun due to malls in Mumbai being closed at the time. Janhvi underwent "intense preparation" to portray her character, and said the filming process affected her both "physically and mentally". Filming wrapped on 26 November 2021.

Music

The music is composed by A. R. Rahman. The first single "Sun Aye Mili" was released on 22 October 2022. The second single "Tum Bhi Raahi" was released on 27 October 2022.

Release

Mili was released on 4 November 2022.