Celina Jaitly to make her acting comeback with Nibedita, biopic on social activist Sister Nivedita, amid divorce row

Celina Jaitly’s look in the film; (left) the actor with Ram Kamal Mukherjee. Pics/By Special Arrangement

Often actors choose the movies they want to front. But Celina Jaitly believes that her next movie, Nibedita, chose her. The actor, who is returning to face the camera six years after the short film, Season's Greetings (2020), will step into the role of Irish-Indian educator and social activist Sister Nivedita in the biopic directed by Ram Kamal Mukherjee.

Set to roll in early 2027, Nibedita will chronicle how Margaret Elizabeth Noble met Swami Vivekananda in London and was so influenced by his teachings that she moved to Calcutta in 1898.

The film will be shot in Northern Ireland and India, specifically Kolkata and Mumbai

Over the following years, she - having adopted the name Nivedita - turned a passionate advocate for girls' education and women's empowerment in India. For Jaitly, it's a matter of pride to portray the activist. "I never imagined that four years after collaborating with Ram Kamal Mukherjee for Season's Greetings, our paths would cross for a story of such spiritual significance. As a little girl, I wandered through the peaceful grounds of Sister Nivedita's last home in Darjeeling, not knowing that one day I would be entrusted with bringing her life to audiences," she said.

Sister Nivedita. Pic/Facebook

According to the National Film Award-winning director, Sister Nivedita's life journey is a story "waiting to be told", and Jaitly, the right choice for it. He shared, "While making Binodiini [2025], I was reading books on Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. That's when I came across Sister Nivedita's journey, and decided to make a movie."

In November 2025, Celina Jaitly filed for divorce from Peter Haag, her husband of 15 years, citing domestic violence.