Screen tryst: Seema Parihar with Bhojpuri singer and actor Manoj Tiwari at the latter’s residence in Mumbai. Telegraph picture

Patna, Sept. 14: Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur directed a movie titled Bandit Queen on the life and adventures of dacoit Phoolan Devi. Manoj Tiwari has gone a step further and cast a real bandit queen in his forthcoming film.

Seema Parihar, who spread terror in the jungles of Uttar Pradesh in the 1980s and 1990s, will act in Tiwari’s new unnamed project.

The shooting for the film will begin next month and it will be released early next year.

Sources said Seema visited Tiwari’s house in Mumbai yesterday, where they discussed the script and the character she will play.

Tiwari said: “She visited my house yesterday. We discussed the plot of film. She will play the lead role.”

This is not Seema’s first tryst with the silver screen. She played herself in the 2006 flick, Wounded — The Bandit Queen.

Tiwari met Seema during their stint in the popular television reality show Big Boss, where they were housemates in Season 4. Seema had voted against Tiwari and that eventually led to his ejection from the house.

Tiwari, however, was all praises for her.

The Bhojpuri actor and singer added: “She is an independent woman and has the potential to become a good artiste. I had heard a lot of bad things about her. When I met her in Big Boss, I realised that she may have been a dreaded dacoit in the past, who had been forced to take up arms but now she was a changed person.”

Seema, who faces charges in a number of cases of murder and kidnapping, had to take special permission from the Allahabad High Court to take part in Big Boss.

Tiwari added: “I do not have any grudges against Seema. I know she had voted against me. That does not mean I will hold it against her for the rest of my life. She approached me and told me that she was interested to work in my film. I accepted her offer. She may have been a dacoit in the past but now she is a mother and settled peacefully in her hometown.

“That is the subject of our film: A person may be bad on the outside but good and caring at heart.”

Seema told The Telegraph over telephone from Auriya in Uttar Pradesh that she was happy to be cast in Tiwari’s film. “I am happy that Manoj Tiwari has signed me for his next film. I am glad that he has shown trust and faith in my acting skills.”

She added that she was interested to work in films rather than join politics, though she had received offers from many parties.

“I got many invitations from political parties to join them. However, I was never interested. I was just waiting for a good script.”

She added that she was excited about the film, most of which would be shot in Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh.

Recollecting her experiences in her previous film, she said: “I was given special permission to work from jail. I had to take acting classes for 20 days. The only thing I was familiar about the film was the location because it was shot in the Chambal valley.”

She added that she faced many obstacles during the shoot but managed to give her best.

Directed by debutant Krishna Mishra, the film went on to bag the Critics’ Award at the Leicester Expo Film Festival in 2005.