For research on her role, Shweta Basu Prasad visited sex workers in Mumbai's red light district, Kamathipura, where she learnt a lot about their mannerisms and lingo which she later incorporated into her own performance.
Shweta Basu Prasad claims her performance was heavily influenced by films which she had grown up watching, particularly Sharmila Tagore's Mausam (1975), Smita Patil's Mandi (1983) and Kareena Kapoor's Chameli (2004).