The actress lends her name to Saaikat Bagbaan's coming-of-age drama about a 13-year-old boy named Pashya, ahead of its October 16 release.
Sonali Bendre has never lent her name to a film before. On Monday, that changed. The actress unveiled the first poster of Sohla, a Marathi feature directed by Saaikat Bagbaan, and in doing so became its presenter, a first for her career.
The poster introduces Pashya, a 13-year-old boy whose story sits at the heart of the film. Sohla, the title, translates loosely to celebration, and refers to a real coming-of-age ritual observed in some Maharashtrian households, where a boy wears his father's chappals for the first time as a mark of his passage from childhood into something closer to manhood. It's a day that, in the film at least, comes loaded with new clothes, sweets, a trip to the village temple and the noise of family gathered for the occasion.
But the film doesn't stay in that warm register. Something interrupts Pashya's ceremony before he's fully ready for it, pushing him toward choices that shape the rest of the story. Bollywood Hungama, which carried the poster reveal, did not detail what that disruption is, so the plot's turn remains, for now, the film's own secret to keep.
Bendre explained her decision to sign on in fairly personal terms. "I have been asked over the years to lend my name to many things. I have said yes very rarely," she said. "Sohla is one of those very rare yeses. Because this is not a film I watched and forgot. It is a film that stayed with me the way a book that quietly changes you stays with you." She was careful to draw a line between her usual on-screen work and this new role. "I am not presenting Sohla as an actor," she said. "I am presenting it as someone who believes in the film and in the story Saaikat has created."
Bagbaan, for whom Sohla marks a first feature, called the poster reveal "incredibly special" and credited both his producers and his presenter for backing a debut project. "I cannot wait for audiences to experience Sohla in cinemas on 16 October," he said.
The film is produced by Goldie Behl under Rose Audio Visuals, alongside Sachin Srivastav, Ratna Srivastava and Kavita Bagban of Carryon Fiilms. Its cast includes Pravin Dalimbkar, Devdatta Prashant Gone, Varsha Malwadkar, Vaishnavi Sanjay Ghodke and Alessandra Whelan Merediz. Cinepolis will handle the all-India theatrical rollout.
What Bendre's name does for a small Marathi debut at the box office remains to be seen. Regional cinema has had a strong run through 2026, and a recognisable presenter attached to a first-time director's film is, at minimum, a bet on visibility. Sohla opens on October 16, right in the thick of festive-season releases, where it will have to fight for screens against considerably bigger titles.
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