Veteran Bollywood actress Waheeda Rehman will be seen in Manjari Makijany’s international skateboarding feature film, Desert Dolphin. Manjari is Mac Mohan’s daughter and this will mark the L.A based director’s directorial debut.

The film is set in the rustic village of Khempur near Udaipur, Rajasthan, where the filmmakers have built one of India’s largest skate parks. Interestingly, Waheeda Rehman hadn’t returned to Udaipur since she shot Guide.

She was nostalgic about shooting in Udaipur again and said that she had gone to Udaipur after a long time. She was last there to shoot the film Guide and they had stayed at Lake Palace Hotel. The film makers organized a trip to the palace where she could relive those memories.

When asked how she got on board this independent project, the actress said that in her 60 years of film career, she had never said yes to a project so quickly. Before this film she had never seen a skate park in India. But when she heard the story and the unique concept, she was immediately drawn towards the film. This was the first time in her career that she was working with a female director.

The Makijany sisters extensively researched the growing skate culture in India and co-wrote the screenplay. They hope to inspire the youth with this coming-of-age story where Prerna, a teenage girl finds freedom on the skateboard while Jessica an NRI, played by Amrit Maghera, finds purpose when she builds Rajasthan’s first skatepark for the local community.

The film is set to release in 2020.