Former Emmerdale actress Paige Sandhu, who played the iconic super villain Meena Jutla on the soap, will shortly be appearing in a new role that’s worlds away from life in the Dales.
Lioness, which was recently revealed at the Cannes India pavilion, tells the story of Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, who was a key figure in the suffragette movement campaigning for women to have the vote in the UK.
Paige will play Sophia, who was also the goddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her father was Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, who lost his Sikh Empire to the Punjab Province of British India and was subsequently exiled to England. Sophia was born in London and Queen Victoria became fond of her, encouraging her and her sisters to become socialites.
During Sophia’s extraordinary life she became a leading member of the movement for women’s voting rights, funding suffragette groups and leading the cause. English Heritage will unveil a blue plaque in her memory at Hampton Court on May 26.
As the film tells Sophia’s story it contrasts her life with the fictional tale of Mehak Kaur (Aditi Rao Hydari), an educated, married immigrant woman living in Southall in the 1990s.
The film also stars Leon Ockenden, who previously appeared in Coronation Street and Waterloo Road.
For Paige this major role will be her first since leaving Emmerdale last year.
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Her character, Meena Jutla, arrived in the village in September 2020, reuniting with her sister Manpreet (Rebecca Sarker) – though the reunion wasn’t a happy one as we discovered that Meena had slept with Manpreet’s first husband Dennis.
It wasn’t long before Meena’s dark side truly emerged, culminating in her killing Leanna Cavanagh (Mimi Slinger) in July 2021. She then killed Andrea Tate (Anna Nightingale) and Ben Tucker (Simon Lennon) and kidnapped Manpreet and Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson).
After a period away from the village she returned to cause havoc on the day of Dawn (Olivia Bromley) and Billy (Jay Kontzle)’s wedding, where she memorably posed as a chauffeur to kidnap the happy couple and attempt to force Billy to choose which of them should live or die.
Even after she was arrested Meena continued to manipulate people, giving Manpreet and vicar Charles (Kevin Mathurin) the runaround before getting her big moment to take centre stage at her trial. She was found guilty and sentenced to a very long time in prison.
Throughout all of this, Paige Sandhu’s performance was impeccable, bringing the menace of the character as well as an off-kilter humour and occasional vulnerability that made her fascinating to watch.
Lioness is currently in production and a release date hasn’t been confirmed.
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