Dacoit drama for E Niwas

Chunky Panday, E Niwas and Barun Sobti

After two successful seasons of SonyLIV's Your Honor, National Award-winning director E Niwas has quietly moved on to his next. Word is that the director is helming a web series, titled Donali, a revenge drama about the Chambal dacoits in the 1960s. The eight-part drama features Chunky Panday, Divyenndu, Sandhya Mridul with Barun Sobti playing a pivotal role.

A trade source reveals that Niwas shot a major chunk of the Applause Entertainment and Juggernaut-backed production in Chambal intermittently over the past two years. "The team started shooting in the ravines of Chambals after the first wave had waned in 2020 and the lockdown was lifted, followed by a few more schedules in 2021. Almost 80 per cent of the series is now complete. The next stint will kick off on January 25 in Mumbai. Post that, the team will head to Wai and Gwalior before calling it a wrap on the project," says the source.

Through the digital offering, the director will show how the dacoits - called baaghis (rebels) in the area - became a force unto themselves and what led them to pick up arms. "The show is being made on a massive scale. While Chunky has played negative characters before in Begum Jaan [2017] and Saaho [2019], here his character is edgy and unpredictable. Shooting in the Chambals is a challenge, more so, because the unit had to follow strict COVID safety protocols. He filmed it around Chambal, in the regions of Sabalgarh, Seondha and the Chambal river," added the source.

When mid-day reached out to Niwas, he confirmed the development, but refused to divulge details.