Karishma and Kareena Kapoor to star in the Zubeidaa sequel?

We have come to know that writer-director Khalid Mohamed is writing a novel, called The Imperfect Prince, as a prelude to the Zubeidaa sequel, in which he wants to cast Karisma Kapoor and her sister Kareena Kapoor Khan, in the leading roles.

Writer-director Khalid Mohamed is extremely busy these days – he is completing the script he is penning for the sequel to Ramesh Sharma’s New Delhi Times. But we have come to know that he is also writing a novel, called The Imperfect Prince, as a prelude to the Zubeidaa sequel, in which he wants to cast Karisma Kapoor and her sister Kareena Kapoor Khan, in the leading roles. This would mean a casting coup of sorts.

Directed by Shyam Benegal and written by Khalid Mohammed, Zubeidaa (2001) had won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. It starred Karisma Kapoor (as Zubeida), Rekha, Manoj Bajpayee, Surekha Sikri, Rajit Kapoor, Lillete Dubey, Amrish Puri, Farida Jalal, and Shakti Kapoor with A.R.Rahman giving the background music and soundtrack. Along with Khalid’s Fiza where she also played the title role, Zubeida is considered to be among her finest performances. Karisma played actress Zubeida Begum, who married Maharaja Vijayendra Singh of Fatehpur (Manoj Bajpai) of Jodhpur and both die in a plane crash.Advertisement

Says a source, “Khalid had written the script of Rutbaa (The Honour) keeping Karisma and Kareena in mind. The sequel will make Karisma appear only in flashbacks as the main character would be Kareena who would be investigating her mother’s mysterious death. But as he’s very busy writing the script for his next project - the sequel to New Delhi Times, Khalid hasn’t been getting much chance to make that movie, so he is converting the research material into a novel, called The Imperfect Prince.”

Khalid admits that he has the Zubeidaa sequel in mind for the Kapoor sisters. He says, “While I haven’t spoken to them, I hope they would consider my offer. It would be a fantasy for me to see them together in Rutbaa. I would also like to have a director matching my sensibilities to direct it. There are very few left of the sensibilities of Shyam Benegal who know that culture and milieu. If Kareena and Kareena agree to do it, it would work. If a sequel is made through my book, The Imperfect Prince, which is fact and fiction, Rekha, Anil Kapoor, Karisma and Kareena would definitely be on my wish list of actors. There is a misconception that Fizaa wasn’t a hit but at it’s time it made 20 crores, over two decades ago but my movies, including Zubeidaa made its money and more.”