VIDYA BALAN TURNED DOWN JAYALALITHAA'S ROLE TO PLAY INDIRA GANDHI ON OTT BEFORE KANGANA RANAUT'S EMERGENCY

On Friday, Kangana Ranaut shared on X that she’s upset her film Emergency, her first solo directorial, won’t release on time because it’s still awaiting approval from the Central Board of Film Certification. She also mentioned that the Sikh community has issues with some parts of the film’s depiction. Before Kangana began working on Emergency, in 2018, Vidya Balan secured the rights to Sagarika Ghose’s 2017 book Indira: India’s Most Powerful Prime Minister. Vidya had always dreamed of portraying Indira Gandhi on screen. Her husband, Siddharth Roy Kapur, was set to produce the film through his company, Roy Kapur Films.

In a 2019 interview with Firstpost, Vidya Balan mentioned that the project was planned as a web series, not a movie, and was to be directed by Ritesh Batra. “The Indira Gandhi web series is taking longer than I wish. They’re rewriting the script according to the web, and will soon come to me with the final version. Web is a different ballgame so it takes more time. I was offered the role five years ago also, by multiple people. But I told them as long as you don’t get the requisite permissions, I can’t do the film. But it’s much easier in web,” she had said.

In the same interview, Vidya Balan said she turned down the role of J Jayalalithaa in Thalaivi because she was already set to play Indira Gandhi and didn’t want to portray two similar political figures too close together.

However, Kangana Ranaut went on to play both J Jayalalithaa in Thalaivi (2021) and Indira Gandhi in Emergency. Emergency is co-produced by Zee Studios and Kangana’s Manikarnika Films.

Meanwhile, on Friday, Kangana Ranaut took to social media platform X to announce Emergency’s delay, saying, “With a heavy heart, I announce that Emergency has been postponed. We are still waiting for certification from the censor board. A new release date will be announced soon. Thanks for your understanding and patience.”

2024-09-07T09:31:47Z dg43tfdfdgfd