Kangana Ranaut was first choice to play Jayalalithaa
There were rumours that the biopic role was offered to Vidya Balan first
Even as reports confirmed that Kangana Ranaut will play the role of the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in an upcoming biopic, rumours began circulating that the actress had actually replaced Vidya Balan in the role. N
ow, Shaailesh R Singh, one of the producers of the film, says that from the time he came on board for the project, Ranaut was always the first choice.
“As producer, I never approached [Balan]and I can say this on the record. I know the news emerged that she was doing the film, but when our writer KV Vijayendra Prasad narrated the story to me, I felt Kangana was the right casting for the role. So as producer and Vijayendra as a writer did not approach anyone else. If anyone else before us had approached any other actress, I am not aware of that,” said Singh.
“With the new team of producer, director and writer, it has been mutually decided that Kangana will play Jayalalithaa,” added the producer, who earlier collaborated with Ranaut in films such as ‘Tanu Weds Manu’, ‘Simran’ and ‘JudgeMentall Hai Kya’.
The biopic, to be made in Tamil and Hindi, is directed by AL Vijay. The film is named ‘Thalaiva’ in Tamil and ‘Jaya’ in Hindi.
In a recent interview when Balan was asked why she had to reject the Jayalalithaa biopic, she said: “I am happy that Kangana is doing it and I will leave it at that. I just think that playing two politicians, who are both strong women, wouldn’t have been possible,” said Balan, referring to her web series on former India Prime Minister India Gandhi.
“If these two projects were a few years apart, it would be fine,” she added.