Pradeep Sarkar’s (Mardaani) next film is a biopic based on the life of 19th century Bengali courtesan-turned-theatre actress-singer, Binodini Dasi, also known as Nati Binodini. She who ruled the Kolkata stage for over a decade, under the mentorship of Girish Chandra Ghosh. Sarkar and his team of producers met with Deepika Padukone to do the film, but the actress turned it down. A source informed a leading portal, “The makers met Deepika a couple of months ago to give her a story narration. She liked the story and agreed to read the script. But then she got busy with Chhapaak promotions and kept them hanging in limbo saying that she would get back to them. Finally, her team reverted after more than a month saying that she couldn’t do the movie as she wanted to do light-hearted subjects and not heavy or serious movies, which would consume her emotionally.”
After Padukone’s refusal to do the film, Sarkar has approached Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who has given her nod to the film. The source also revealed, “Apparently, Deepika wants to take a break from emotionally draining subjects now, especially after Chhapaak, and is looking at rom-coms or comedy-centric projects. The makers then approached Aishwarya who has liked the story. The final script is getting locked and she has given a verbal nod to it. The script is also in the final draft now and the paperwork with Aishwarya is left.”
If Bachchan signs on the dotted line, this will be her first film after Fanney Khan.
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