Lagaan Fame Rachel Shelley Makes Comeback After 22 Years, Stars In Netflix's Kohrra

The character of Elizabeth Russell in the Aamir Khan starrer film Lagaan was quite notable. The impactful role was portrayed by Rachel Shelley. In the film, she offered to teach the villagers how to play cricket so that they could defeat the Britishers and waive their taxes. Decades later, Rachel is set to make her comeback in the entertainment industry with the upcoming web series Kohrra, for Netflix. Her performance in the 2001 film was quite commendable, and it will be interesting to see her character develop in the new investigative drama helmed by Sudip Sharma which is slated to release on July 15.

In an interview with The Indian Express, Sudip Sharma shed light on why the makers of the series, Kohrra, decided to cast Lagaan fame, Rachel Shelley. He said, “The casting of Rachel came from a bit of practicality.” The filmmaker stated that the team was shooting Kohrra during the third wave of COVID, and while he wanted an actor from the UK, he didn’t want to hire a “white actor working in Mumbai.” He wanted to cast someone who would understand and adapt to the shooting conditions in the country.

Supid stated, “Shooting a web series is tough, we don’t have the kind of budgets that’s there for films, and a professional white actor, who has done good work over there, they would find it very tough to shoot here, the chaos that’s here. So, part of the reason to hire her was because she had done Lagaan, she knew what madness could be like.”

Sudip Sharma added that Rachel Shelley is a “great actor” and he was quite driven by her other works. He also lauded casting director Nikita Grover for “pushing the boundary” and making some suitable choices for the series.

Apart from Rachel Shelley, Kohrra stars popular names like Barun Sobti, Harleen Sethi, Suvinder Vicky, Varun Badola, and many more. The plot revolves around an NRI’s dead body, which is discovered before his wedding.

Rachel Shelley is a well-known English actor. She has worked in movies such as Lighthouse, The Calling, Gray Matters, The Children etc. She is also been part of several TV shows, such as The L Word, Ghost Whisperers, and Licensed By Royalty among others.