KATHMANDU: Chum Darang, who gained fame for her appearance on the popular Indian TV reality show Bigg Boss Season 18 and her acting in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Gangubai Kathiawadi, has confirmed her debut in Nepali cinema. She will star in the upcoming action film Airi, which is currently in pre-production.

Chum will be starring opposite actor Pradeep Khadka in the movie, where the two will share an onscreen romance. The film is set to begin shooting within the next two weeks, and Chum is currently in Kathmandu attending an intensive workshop for the role. She is memorizing lines according to the script in the workshop, apart from learning Nepali in the workshop.

Reports confirm, “She is memorizing her dialogues according to the script.” Pradeep Khadka’s opposite female lead actress will enact the role of the actress in the film.

Chum has been in Kathmandu for the past few days. The film will also feature Bhutanese actor Sangay Seltrim as the lead antagonist. Sangay, who was seen in Shah Rukh Khan’s Bollywood film Jawan earlier, has been commuting to Kathmandu on a regular basis for the preparation of the film.

Sangay signed a written agreement with director Jivan Thapa for Airi in Baishakh 2081 BS (2024 AD). The movie will be shot in Kathmandu, Dhorpatan in Baglung, and India. The shooting is expected to last for three months, with an additional eight months for VFX work, making the total production time approximately one year.

The film is being produced by Jivan Thapa’s equipment company, Multimet, in collaboration with an Indian distributor. It will be made in both Nepali and Hindi, with plans to dub it in several regional languages.

Apart from Pradeep Khadka, Chum Darang, and Sangay Seltrim, actor Sunil Thapa will also play a key role in the film. Additional well-known Nepali actors are expected to join the cast, with formal announcements to be made soon.

As for Chum’s career, she was last seen on Bigg Boss Season 18, hosted by Salman Khan. She made her acting debut in 2020 with Amazon Prime’s crime thriller series Paatal Lok. In 2022, she appeared in the film Badhaai Do alongside Bhumi Pednekar. She was also featured in Gangubai Kathiawadi, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, alongside Alia Bhatt in the same year. Her Bollywood film Khauf is set to release in 2025.