Vidya Balan in the role of human computer" Shakuntala Devi in her upcoming biopic

Bollywood actress Vidya Balan will play the lead role of Indian mathematical genius Shakuntala Devi in her upcoming biopic. The film will be directed by Anu Menon and is set for summer 2020 release.

Vidya Balan is very much excited about her role in the film and said, "I am extremely excited to play the human computer, Shakuntala Devi, on the big screen. She was truly someone who embraced her individuality, had a strong feminist voice and braved many a naysayer to reach the pinnacle of success."


Never being received a formal education, Shakuntala Devi, a small town Indian girl, is widely known as the "human computer" and her ability to make incredibly swift calculations. The mathematical wizard has her name in the Guinness Book of World Records for demonstrating the multiplication of two 13-digit numbers by mental calculations. Her book 'The World Of Homosexuals' is also considered to be the first study of homosexuality in India.

Director of the film is Anu Menon and produced by Vikram Malhotra of 'Airlift', 'Baby', 'Toilet-Ek Prem Katha' fame.

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Vidya Balan turns down film based on Meena Kumari

Report is that actress Vidya Balan has rejected a script based on veteran actor Meena Kumari’s life which is a new project of writer-director Karan Razdan.

Vidya Balan

Karan 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.”

Karan Razdan has also approached Madhuri Dixit but she is also not interested on the project. Karan said that the only actor, who showed willingness to work on the project was Sunny Leone. Although Karan Razdan has doubt over Sunny Leone's ability to perform in the film.

Karan said “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.”

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Neha Dhupia is boss of Vidya Balan in Tumhari Sulu

Actress Neha Dhupia will play the role of Vidya Balan's boss in the upcoming film 'Tumhari Sulu'. Vidya Balan is a radio jockey again

Film Tumhari Sulu is produced by T-Series and Atul Kasbekar's Ellipsis Entertainment.

Neha Dhupia

"Say hello to the dazzling @NehaDhupia who plays @vidya_balan's boss Maria in our next film #TumhariSulu Delighted to have her on board," Kasbekar posted on Twitter.

Dhupia wrote, "Thank you @atulkasbekar ..Cant wait to work with this magical bunch! @@vidya_balan @sureshtriveni @EllipsisEntt @priyagupta999 #TumhariSulu."

The film Tumhari Sulu will be directed by Suresh Triveni. This will be Triveni's first full-length feature film. 

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Rituparna Sengupta praises Vidya Balan for her works in Begum Jaan

Vidya Balan

Bengali actress Rituparna Sengupta was in Mumbai recently to attend the premiere of Srijit Mukherji's Begum Jaan, which is the Hindi version of Bengali film Rajkahini. Rituparna played the lead role, madam of a brothel in the film. Vidya Balan played the same character in film Begum Jaan, the Hindi version of  Rajkahini. Rituparna was invited by producer Mahesh Bhatt and Vidya Balan.

Rituparna Sengupta

Rituparna was overwhelmed bu the gesture of Vidya Balan. Ritu said "I was touched when Vidya told me, 'You are my original Begum Jaan.' Vidya too was extremely courteous — she told me that my feedback matters. Post the screening, she came and asked me whether her acting was anywhere to close to what I'd done. I told her it was phenomenal! I also met Chunky (Pandey), one of my old co-stars with whom I have delivered many hit films in Bangladesh. We watched the film together. He's done a stupendous job in the movie as did Jisshhu in Rajkahini."

Rituparna further said "One of the most touching moments was when I saw Srijit's (Mukherji) mother. It was a huge moment for her— after all, her son was making his directorial debut in Bollywood. Vidya and Gauahar are amazing in the film. Then again, we were too. I put my heart and soul in the film as did everyone else. It was a great moment for me when Vidya told me that it was big that for her to be attempting something I've done. It's heartening that Vidya, a great actress herself, feels like that about me."

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Begum Jaan Box Office Collection

Vidya Balan in Begum Jaan

As expected, Begum Jaan has managed to collect Rs. 3.94 crore on the first day. Film Begum Jaan is a Hindi remake of Srijit Mukherji's Bengali film 'Rajkahini' and the film has been released across 900-1100 screens in the country.

Actress Vidya Balan is playing the role of a madam of a brothel, who is trying to protect her sex workers and their home amidst the looming threat of the India-Pakistan partition. 

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Film Begum Jaan to be tax-free in Jharkhand

Vidya Balan's upcoming film Begum Jaan has been declared tax-free in Jharkhand state by Chief Minister Raghubar Das.

Majority of the movie's shooting took place in Jharkhand and as a reward the film is getting tax free status in the state.


Director Srijit Mukherji posted on Twitter "Delighted to announce that 'Begum Jaan' has been declared tax free in Jharkhand and has also been given a subsidy of 2 cr under the Government Policy of Promotion of Jharkhand as a Film Destination."

The producer of the movie, Mahesh Bhatt also expressed his joy writing "Thank you Jharkhand! Thank you Raghubar Das Ji! Your support to our film 'Begum Jaan' has made a great difference. Thank you! @dasraghubar."

Film Begum Jaan will be released on 14 April

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Hindi Begum Jaan to meet Bengali Begum Jaan

Vidya Balan in Begum Jaan

Rajkahini's Begum Jaan Rituparna Sengupta will meet Hindi Begum Jaan Vidya Balan  on 10 April, today in Kolkata. Producer Mahesh Bhatt has invited Rituparna Sengupta. Rituparna Sengupta played the brothel madam in film Rajkahini which was a Bengali film. Hindi version of film Rajkahini is Begum Jaan and Vidya Balan is playing the lead role.

Rituparna Sengupta said "I remember meeting Vidya when director Srijit (Mukherji) was shooting with her in Delhi. I didn't hand her down my experiences because I trusted her ability to do justice to Begum's part. She's lucky she had Rajkahini as a reference. When I had to play the part, I just had the script and my imagination."

Rituparna Sengupta

Actually Rituparna hoped that she would be in the Hindi version of Rajkahini and further Srijit's statement has hurt the actress. Director Srijit said that Vidya was the first choice for Rajkahini too. Rituparna's reaction is "As far as I remember, Srijit had told me that he couldn't see anyone other than me as Begum in Rajkahini. I was bruised and had lost my voice for days while shooting. So, I really don't know if he had other choices, too, but the pain was worth it because Mahesh (Bhatt) and Vidya had praised my performance back then."

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Mahesh Bhatt and how he views Begum Jaan

Mahesh Bhatt and Begum Jaan Vidya Balan

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt is producing Vidya Balan-starrer film Begum Jaan and he is very happy for it. After doing number of films on sex and thrill, Mahesh is again back to subjects that he explored during his formative years in Bollywood.

In Mahesh's words: “For us to move away completely from the cinema that we make, was a concious decision. And we are very happy that we did it. I have opted for this kind of cinema after ‘Zakhm’. The last three films we made were almost non-films. They disappeared… So, as they say, ‘in the darkest night you must begin from the point where you once started before’." The veteran filmmaker further said "The way Srijit Mukherji tells his story, his way of working reminds of Mahesh Bhatt of 1984 and he used to make films like ‘Arth’, ‘Saaransh’ and ‘Zakhm’.”

Film Begum Jaan is a Hindi adaptation of Srijit Mukherjee’s critically-acclaimed Bengali outing Rajkahini where Rituparna Sengupta played the lead role. 

Mahesh Bhatt said: “There is no male star, no item song, but purely context of the story. This (response to the trailer) is certain kind of indication that the world outside is far more receptive to new idea, new content than the market.”

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Vidya Balan and Pregnancy Rumour

Vidya Balan

The latest hot rumour in Bollywood is that is Vidya Balan pregnant? This is not the first time that such news is in the air but this time a few days ago, Vidya was spotted at a clinic.

Vidya Balan is very unhappy on such rumour of her pregnancy and said "It was annoying. I could be going to a clinic for an acne too! Why is it that every time a woman, post marriage, visits a doctor, there are whispers of her pregnancy?"

Vidya Balan tied the knot with producer Siddharth Roy Kapur in 2012, and since then the actress is facing questions about her private life, her pregnancy, and like these. Vidya Balan further said "I don't think it's anyone's business except mine and my husband's. It was a serious invasion on our privacy, but our country is such. Neighbours and relatives [constantly] ask us (unnecessary questions). The day I got married, one of my uncles told me at the wedding venue, 'Next time I see you [her and Siddharth], I should be looking at three people, not two'. This was even before our wedding pictures could be clicked. I politely laughed because we hadn't even decided on our honeymoon destination then."

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Chunky Pandey in Begum Jaan

Chunky Pandey

Chunky Pandey will be seen in Hindi film after a long time and new look of the actor has surprised everyone. Earlier Vidya Balan, Chunky Pandey has completely stolen away the thunder in the trailer of their upcoming film 'Begum Jaan'. 

Chunky

The new look of the 54-year-old actor is being appreciated by the critics.

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Vidya Balan on Rituparna over the film Rajkahini

Begum Jaan Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan's upcoming film Begum Jaan is in news. First trailer of the film has been released and the sample indicates that the film is going to be a big hit.

Actually Srijit Mukherjee approached Vidya Balan earlier to play the role of Begum Jaan in Rajkahini but she couldn't do it due to some reason. Srijit again approached Vidya with Begum Jaan even when the script was not written. 

In Bengali film Rajkahini, Rituparna Sengupta played the role of Begum Jaan and was upset that despite a great performance she didn't get a National Award for Rajkahini. Vidya also thinks that Rituparna deserved a National Award for the film Rajkahini. 

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Rajkahini vs Begum Jaan - Rituparna Vs Vidya Balan

Vidya as Begum Jaan

Film Begum Jaan, directed by Srijit Mukherjee will be released soon. Begum Jaan is Hindi version of Bengali film Rajkahini. In Begum Jaan, Vidya Balan is in the role of a brothel owner - Begum Jaan while Rituparna Sengupta played the same role in Rajkahini. Comparison between Begum Jaan and Rajkahini is obvious while the same can be expected between Vidya and Rituparna Sengupta.

Rituparna in Rajkahini

Story of film Begum Jaan

Film Begum Jaan is based on a story of survival of number of prostitutes against the backdrop of the Partition. Begum Jaan is a brothel owner who has built a world for herself and the other women in her brothel. Their existence is threatened when the house in which they reside has to be torn down as a result of the Partition. With the newly-chalked LOC, half of the house is in India and the other half in Pakistan post-Partition. Begum Jaan and her girls are not ready to give up their house without a fight.

Full cast of Begum Jaan

Vidya Balan

Pallavi Sharda

Naseeruddin Shah

Gauhar Khan

Tinnu Anand

Ashish Vidyarthi

Rajesh Sharma

Fllora Saini

Mishti

Chunky Pandey

Rajit Kapoor

Vivek Mushran

Akhilendra Mishra

Shiva Rindani

Ila Arun

Arjun Mathur

Ridhima Tiwari

Release date of Begum Jaan: 14 April 2017

Srijit wanted to cast Vidya Balan in both Bengali and Hindi version of Begum Jaan

Recently director Srijit Mukherjee said that earlier he planned to make both Bengali and Hindi version of the film at a time with Vidya Balan in the lead role. Srijit said that at that time Vidya took a short break from films and that's why Rituparna worked in Rajkahini. No reaction from Ritu is received till today (20 March 2017).

After watching the trailer of Begum Jaan, Rituparna praised the Begum Jaan team, specially Vidya Balan.

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Vidya Balan will work opposite Rajinikanth in Kabali spin-off

Recently Vidya Balan has walked out of Malayalam filmmaker Kamaluddin Muhammed's Kamala Das biopic Aami but the actress is all set to work in another South film. Vidya Balan is in talks with actor Dhanush who is planning to cast her opposite his father-in-law Rajinikanth in his next film.

Vidya Balan

Dhanush is planning to make a spin-off of Rajinikanth's gangster film Kabali. Rajinikanth played a veteran gangster in the blockbuster film in Tamil Nadu. The next film will not be a sequel to Kabali but merely a spin-off.

It is heard that Vidya Balan was considered for Kabali before the role was offered to Radhika Apte. The Kabil spin-off will be directed by Rajinikanth but it will start only after Rajinikanth wraps up the shooting of film 2.0, the sequel to his fiction entertainer Robot.

Vidya Balan, on the other hand, is now busy with Srijit Mukherji's Begum Jaan and Suresh Triveni's Tumhari Sullu in which she will be seen playing a radio jockey.

Vidya Balan has never shared screen space with Rajinikanth.

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Vidya Balan to be sued for opting out of Aami

Vidya Balan

Bollywood actress Vidya Balan suddenly backed off from director Kamal's much awaited film, Aami, the biopic of Indian-English writer Madhavikutty/Kamala Surya. The director was unhappy over the matter and mentioned it as an unprofessional deed.

Now it is heard that the team of Aami is planning to sue the actress, Vidya Balan for cheating. In a recent press meet held in Kochi, its producer told, "What Vidya did is nothing more than cheating not only the producers of Aami but also the entire film crew. We will definitely sue her for this!"

The film Aami is based on the autobiography of Madhavikutty will go on floors on 20 March  at Ottapalam. Actress Manju Warrier replaces Vidya in the film.

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Vidya Balan and upcoming film of Soumik Sen

Vidya Balan

Earlier it was said that Vidya Balan is doing Soumik Sen's upcoming film but the filmmaker himself confirmed that Vidya is not doing his film.

Vidya Balan loves doing woman-oriented films and it was heard that Soumik Sen’s next film revolves around a married woman with a mysterious past. But Soumik reveals that he has been writing a couple of scripts but they’re not women-centric like his debut project.

Soumik Sen said, “I am not making any film with Vidya Balan. In fact, I have not written any script for her. I met Vidya at Aamir Khan’s party and we just had a casual chat. I think that’s when people started speculating about me making a film with her. It’s not true at all.”

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Film Begum Jaan Release Date Out

National Award-winning actress Vidya Balan's forthcoming film 'Begum Jaan' will be released on 14 April. 

Film Begum Jaan is produced by Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt, the film is directed by National Award winner Srijit Mukherji. This film is directorial debut of Srijit Mukherji in Bollywood. Earlier Srijit has made Bengali version of the film Begum Jaan and the title was Rajkahini. Powerful Bengali actress Rituparna Sengupta played the role of madam (Begum Jaan) in film Rajkahini which was a super hit movie.

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Topless Disha Patani for Dabboo Ratnani Calender

Disha Patani

Ace photographer Dabboo Ratnani is known for his iconic annual celebrity calendar. This year topless Disha Patani is seen in Dabboo Ratnani's calender. 

Apart from topless Disha Patani, other actors to feature in this year’s calendar are Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Vidya Balan, Farhan Akhtar, Sunny Leone, Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra.

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Kahaani 2 and first look of Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan

First look of Kahaani 2 is released and from the picture, role of Vidya Balan in the sequel of famous film Kahaani can be guesses. Vidya Balan is playing the role of Durga Rani Singh in Kahaani 2. 

The film will be released on 2 December 2016 and apart from Vidya Balan, Arjun Rampal, Jugal Hansraj, Tota Roy Chowdhury are in the film. Tota will play the role of a police.

Kahaani 2 is directed by Sujay Ghosh. Script is written by Sujoy Ghosh and dialogue is written by Ritesh Shah.

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Vidya Balan has been diagnosed with dengue

Vidya Balan

Bollywood actress Vidya Balan has been diagnosed with dengue on 16 September, Friday. The actress is now under observation at home. Two of Vidya's neighbours, including actor Shahid Kapoor, were served notices by the BMC on Friday, for failing to prevent breeding of aedes aegypti mosquito inside their swanky apartments on Juhu Tara road.


The BMC's insecticide department found breeding inside Shahid Kapoor's swimming pool that was apparently lying unused. Shahid Kapoor and Vidya Balan reside in the same Praneta apartments. Shahid's flat is 2 floors below Vidya.

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Raveena Tandon to replace Tabu in Silver Jubilee

Raveena Tandon

Actress Tabu was suppose to play the female protagonist opposite Irrfan Khan in 'Silver Jubliee' but another matured Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon will play the female lead in the film. Earlier there was a rumour that Vidya Balan may replace Tabu but ultimately is is Raveena Tandon who has replaced Tabu.

Tabu has worked with Irrfan Khan in films like Maqbool’ and ‘Namesake’. Tabu has to turn down the offer of Silver Jubilee as she could not adjust her dates. Raveena Tandon is currently shooting Onir’s ‘Shab’ in Delhi.

‘Silver Jubliee’is directed by Anurag Singhand produced by Ekta Kapoor.

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