Parineeti Chopra has a theory about the past year of her life, and it involves Netflix orchestrating something behind the scenes.
"During Chamkila (2024), I found my husband, during the filming of Shaque, I got my baby... and now on my wedding anniversary, this show is being released," she muses in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter India. "So, Netflix is up to something!"
Ahead of the premiere of Shaque: Trust No One, a mystery thriller series with a woman at its centre, Chopra reflects on the fascinating overlap between her work and her personal life this past year.
It starts with the fact that this is her first series ever, and her third outing with Netflix after The Girl on the Train (2021) and Amar Singh Chamkila (2024). She says it was something of a running dialogue between her and the streamer, waiting to see what their third collaboration would look like. "It was always a fun little banter between Netflix and I for our third collaboration... would it be a series or a film?"
Asked what drew her to this particular project, and the actor says she didn’t need much convincing. "When I got a call for Shaque, with Rensil D’Silva directing, the story was so gripping that I knew I had to do this," she shares. "It ticked all the boxes I wanted: leading a show, creating something binge-worthy, and having a meaty role to chew on. If I had to make my streaming debut with any series, it would be this one."
What she couldn’t predict was how closely the shoot would end up somewhat resonating with her own life. In Shaque, Chopra plays Anvita Dutt, a mother whose search for her abducted daughter stretches across nine years. Chopra began filming for the show before her own pregnancy.
When asked about stepping into a role built entirely around motherhood, she said: "When I was shooting for this show, I wasn’t a mother yet. I actually found out about my pregnancy during this show."
She confesses that, previously, she couldn't fully relate to the material and to her character. "I relied a lot on the writing and the real mothers around me on set to find the emotion."
But with her son, Neer, arriving last year, Chopra says revisiting the material left her overwhelming and emotional. “Now I relate to it so much. It’s so difficult to watch this show now and think about what my character had to deal with,” she says. "If I'd read this script now, I would’ve probably reacted differently to it as a mother."
The overlap between her work and her personal life doesn’t stop there. Chopra recently launched Mom Talks, a show built around candid conversations on pregnancy and new parenthood — a subject she feels still carries much stigma in India. "During this journey of being a mother in India, there’s so many taboos around this subject, so it was so important to explore this angle," she said.
And then there’s the release date itself. Shaque: Trust No One premieres on Netflix on September 24, which happens to be a special date for Chopra. "Did you know that the show is releasing on my wedding anniversary?" she says excitedly. "It’s full circle! It’s been a crazy, unforgettable journey because of so much of my personal life and work life intertwining."
For Chopra, the show’s release feels less like the end of a project and more like proof of something bigger playing out in real time. As she puts it, “My own life has graphed itself to match the work I’m doing."