Parineeti Chopra Is Thankful She Wasn’t a Mom While Playing a Grieving Mother in Shaque: ‘I’d Collapse’

Parineeti Chopra says becoming a mother before Shaque would have made the role ‘unbearable’

Mumbai: Parineeti Chopra has revealed that she is grateful she had not become a mother when she was filming Netflix’s Shaque: Trust No One, in which she plays a woman devastated after her newborn daughter is stolen.

In an interview with Hindustan Times, the actor reflected on the emotional demands of portraying a grieving mother and said her lack of real-life experience with motherhood at the time helped her maintain the distance needed for the performance.

‘Thank God’ she wasn’t a mother then

In Shaque, Chopra plays a woman whose daughter is taken from her crib just hours after birth. Her character spends years searching for the missing child, with the search gradually affecting her emotionally and psychologically.

Chopra said she began filming the series before discovering she was pregnant in 2025. Looking back, she described the timing as a “blessing in disguise”, because she did not have personal experience of motherhood to draw upon while performing the most painful scenes.

The actor said that if she had already been a mother, the material could have become overwhelming.

“I would not be able to differentiate too much,” Chopra said, explaining why she was thankful she did not have that real-life experience while filming.

She added that thinking about the character’s circumstances now evokes an intense emotional response.

“I think I would completely collapse. I would cry in every scene,” she said.

Motherhood changed how she approaches the role

Chopra gave birth to her son Neer on October 19, 2025, with husband Raghav Chadha. She said that spending time as a mother has since given her a different perspective on motherhood and the emotions explored in Shaque.

The actor explained that she now feels more settled in her own experience of motherhood and believes that allows her to approach such roles with greater strength rather than simply drawing on immediate personal emotion.

Interestingly, Chopra discovered she was pregnant while Shaque was still being filmed. The makers subsequently worked around her pregnancy to ensure that the production could continue safely.

What is Shaque: Trust No One about?

Shaque: Trust No One follows a mother’s nine-year search for her missing child, as her determination to uncover the truth brings her closer to secrets involving the people around her. Netflix describes the series as a mystery thriller exploring the boundaries between trust and suspicion, instinct and truth, and love and obsession.

The series marks Parineeti Chopra’s web-series debut and also features Tahir Raj Bhasin, Jennifer Winget, Soni Razdan, Harleen Sethi, Sumeet Vyas, Anup Soni and Dhruv Chowdhary.

Created by Siddharth P Malhotra and Rensil D’Silva and directed by D’Silva, the series began streaming on Netflix on September 24, 2026.

Parineeti’s own motherhood journey

The role has gained an additional layer of significance because Chopra's personal life changed dramatically during and after production.

She was not a mother when she started filming the thriller, but later became pregnant during the shoot and subsequently welcomed her son. In recent interviews, she has spoken about how motherhood has influenced her understanding of the emotions portrayed in Shaque, including the fear and protective instinct at the heart of the story.

For Chopra, however, the fact that she filmed the most emotionally demanding portions before becoming a mother may have helped her approach the character as an actor rather than allowing her own experience to overwhelm the performance.