Vidya Balan’s ‘Begum Jaan’ re-locates to Punjab

BizAsia reported a few days ago that Vidya Balan would be playing a brothel madam in Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Begum Jaan’ which is a Hindi adaptation of Bengali film ‘Rajkahini’ (2015). The story of ‘Rajkahini’ was based in Bengal but for the Hindi remake, it will be set in Punjab.

The film is being produced by Bhatt and will be directed by��Srijit Mukherjee. “We are re-locating the plot of ��Rajkahini�۪, titled ��Begum Jaan�۪ in Hindi, to the Punjab border. ��Rajkahini�۪ was located at the Bengal border where the after-effects of Partition where felt much less strongly than in Punjab. We’re taking the story to a new level, and to a different scale of expression,” said Mukherjee, according to Box Office Capsule.

The director continued, regarding Balan, “She has the right look and diction for it. As for Rituparna, I’ve already spoken to her about the casting. She is very happy that I’m doing the film in Hindi. Not just Rituparna, but the entire cast is being changed. There may not be that many characters in ��Begum Jaan�۪ as there were in ��Rajkahini”.

None of the original cast of ‘Rajkahini’ will be seen in ‘Begum Jaan’. It remains to be seen which other actresses are cast in the roles.