Vidya Balan reveals why she rejected Jayalalithaa Biopic!
Vidya Balan: Playing two politicians wouldn’t have been possible!
Bollywood actress Vidya Balan is currently busy promoting her upcoming movie Mission Mangal, which also stars Akshay Kumar, Taapsee Pannu, Sonakshi Sinha, Kirti Kulhari, Sharman Joshi and Nithya Menen in pivotal roles. During one of the promotional sprees Vidya opened up about her upcoming web-series based on the life of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the reason behind rejecting the much-awaited biopic of Jayalalithaa and doing a biopic on mathematical wizard Shakuntala Devi.
Talking about the web-series, the 40-year-old actress said, "The Indira Gandhi wed-series is taking longer than I would like, unfortunately. But I hope it happens sooner than later. But I guess when it comes to web series I have no understating of how it works.
"But Ronnie (Screwvala) is producing it and they are working on the script. I can only wait for them to come and tell me that they are ready to roll. I don’t write or get involved in any of those processes. I am hoping that they will soon come to me and say that it is ready. But I guess it takes a lot of time to get the structure in place."
Before Kangana Ranaut, the actress being considered for the portrayal of Indian politician and actress, who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for fourteen years, Jayalalithaa in a biopic was Vidya herself. The Tumhari Sulu actress, revealed the reason behind rejecting the aforementioned biopic. She said, "I am happy that Kangana is doing it and I will leave it at that. I just think that playing two politicians and strong women wouldn’t have been possible. If these two projects were a few years apart, it was fine."
The bubbly actress further opened up and revealed if it is difficult to choose a project over the other, she said, "No, it wasn’t a tough call because I am personally invested in the Indira Gandhi biopic as I had bought the rights to the book. Of course, it is taking long. But when it happens, it is going to take a lot from me.
"I have been on this for five years now. That time I had two film offers, and since we weren’t getting the requisite permissions, we couldn’t do the film. But in the web series space, it is far easier. We don’t even have to choose the events that we want to show as in a web series you can make it as long as you want. We can have multiple seasons."
Post the release of Mission Mangal, Vidya will start shooting on Shakuntala Devi’s, better known as human computer, biopic. Talking about why she took up the project, the The Dirty Picture actress reveals, "I take a fifteen days break after Mission Mangal. I am also nervous as I haven’t had much time to prepare. But Shakuntala Devi is a very interesting character to play because she is a woman I like.
"We have certain perceptions about scientists and mathematicians, but Shakuntala Devi, who was also known as the human computer, had fun. I can’t talk about various instances as it is too early, but that’s what fascinated me about her. She had a great sense of humour; in fact, a wicked sense of humour. I identified with her, and so I wanted to play her."
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