A much-touted biopic on the life of yesteryear Hindi film actress Meena Kumari, starring Kangana Ranaut, has been postponed, reported Hindustan Times.
The project, to be directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia, had been announced earlier this year, but met with some controversy. Kumari's step-son Tajdar Amrohi, son of filmmaker Kamal Amrohi, slammed Dhulia's film, telling Mid-Day that Ranaut would be "in no way able to justify her character" and that she was "too modern" to play the role.
Amrohi has also been trying to make the same film as producer since 2014 with Shashilal Nair (Angaar, Ek Chhotisi Love Story) helming it. There were reports of the two not seeing eye-to-eye on the project, which was considering Manisha Koirala as its lead (complicated by the fact that the actress and Nair don't get along).
Dhulia's film has been stalled due to a "lack of adequate information and rights", owing to the fact that the book it was supposed to be based on — the late Vinod Mehta's Meena Kumari — A Classic Biography — isn't quite working as source material. Reportedly, Mehta confessed to not knowing much about Kumari when he wrote his book, and Dhulia feels that "if the film is 'based only on the book', it won’t have enough information and, therefore, won’t be fun".
According to the director, they will need to get a number of permissions in place before the project can start back up again. Meanwhile, Amrohi says that his film will release next year.
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The project, to be directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia, had been announced earlier this year, but met with some controversy. Kumari's step-son Tajdar Amrohi, son of filmmaker Kamal Amrohi, slammed Dhulia's film, telling Mid-Day that Ranaut would be "in no way able to justify her character" and that she was "too modern" to play the role.
Amrohi has also been trying to make the same film as producer since 2014 with Shashilal Nair (Angaar, Ek Chhotisi Love Story) helming it. There were reports of the two not seeing eye-to-eye on the project, which was considering Manisha Koirala as its lead (complicated by the fact that the actress and Nair don't get along).
Dhulia's film has been stalled due to a "lack of adequate information and rights", owing to the fact that the book it was supposed to be based on — the late Vinod Mehta's Meena Kumari — A Classic Biography — isn't quite working as source material. Reportedly, Mehta confessed to not knowing much about Kumari when he wrote his book, and Dhulia feels that "if the film is 'based only on the book', it won’t have enough information and, therefore, won’t be fun".
According to the director, they will need to get a number of permissions in place before the project can start back up again. Meanwhile, Amrohi says that his film will release next year.
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