National Award winner Vidya Balan is all set to play former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in a project based on journalist-author Sagarika Ghose’s book Indira: India’s Most Powerful Prime Minister.
“I am happy to have acquired the rights of Sagarika Ghose’s Indira: India’s Most Powerful Prime Minister, because I have always wanted to play Indira Gandhi. I haven’t decided yet whether it should be a film or a web series, but that will take a while anyway,” the Bollywood actress who was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2014 said in a statement on Tuesday.
Ghose, elated about signing the contract, wrote, “Most excited to see ‘Indira’ on-screen!”
She also called Vidya an “ace”. The book, published by Juggernaut Books, is a no-holds-barred biographical portrait that looks for answers to lingering issues: from why Indira Gandhi revoked the Emergency to her son Sanjay’s curious grip over her; and from her bad marriage and love affairs to her dangerous religious politics.
In other tweets, Sagarika also revealed that she thinks that adapting the book to a web series would also be a good option, considering something like Netflix’s shows.
Indira: India’s Most Powerful Prime Minister was pitched by the publishers to the film and screen community at the Word to Screen Market 2017, organised by the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Vidya’s performance in her last outing Tumhari Sulu was appreciated by fans and critics alike.