Vidya Balan turns down film based on Meena Kumari.

Wanting to
continue her
break from heavy-
duty roles, actor
Vidya Balan, who
is riding high on
Tumhari Sulu's
success, has
rejected a script
based on veteran
actor Meena
Kumari's life,
claims writer-
director Karan
Razdan.
Razdan, who is
known for
penning Ajay
Devgn's Deewane
(2000) and Diljale
(1995), narrated
the film to Vidya but the actor turned down
it, saying she wants to non-serious roles
right now. Talking to indianexpress.com,
Razdan said, "I narrated her something but
at the moment she is wanting to do
something that's non-serious. She has had
too much of serious stuff. We spoke at
length. Maybe tomorrow, I may have that
kind of a script for her. But at the moment, I
wanted her to play the role of an actress of
the 1960s. The film dealt with alcoholism
and tragedy.
When asked if the role is inspired from any
real-life personality, Razdan replied,
"Partially yes. The inspiration was a real-life
personality, but then (I) fictionalised. It is
inspired from Meena Kumari. The
filmmaker said he also narrated the script
to actor Madhuri Dixit Nene but things
didn't work out. According to Razdan, the
only actor, who showed willingness to
work on the project was Sunny Leone.
"I think the only one, who is courageous
enough and said to me, When can we start
this film?', has been Sunny Leone. It scares...
It didn't scare Vidya for sure. In fact, she
believes she was Meena Kumar in past life.
But the point is that it would need courage.
I have narrated it to Madhuri but it didn't
work out for one reason or the other.
Sunny came along, she said she had heard
about this film and wanted me to narrate it.
I met her at her house, had a long
narration. I don't know... She is not the
ideal choice, I would say. But she was the
most enthusiastic (about doing the role). I
guess, she also saw this as her big chance.
The interaction with Razdan came days
ahead of the launch of his latest novel, The
Secret Law of Blessing. The director has
come up with his second self-help book,
which has been published by Story Mirror.
Razdan said that the disconnect that he felt
with the outside world was one of the
reasons he began penning down the book.
"I felt compelled. I felt a disconnect with
this unjust, restless world. I have been
chanting since 2004. Somewhere, within
the consciousness rises and the kind of
books that you read... I was reading
Paramahansa Yogananda, I have been
listening to Osho for some time now. So,
whatever that came to me I took notes of it,
if I felt that came from deep within. That's
how the book came to be. At one point you
do take the conscious decision that this will
be a book. This was five years ago, he said.
The Secret Law of Blessing hit the book
shelves earlier this week. An official launch
is expected to take place in coming days.

http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/vidya-balan-turns-down-film-based-on-meena-kumari-4976342/.