Her character may be portrayed at two different ages, with the older one modelled on Waheeda Rehman.
After going back and forth, deciding who his Mehrinissa may be, buzz is that Sudhir Mishra has finally zeroed upon Vidya Balan to play the titular character. Katrina Kaif is now formally out of the race. And Vidya will be joining the team towards the top of the year.
"That's when Vidya can be freed from her next assignment namely Rajkumar Gupta's Ghanchakkar," says a source. Interestingly Mehrunissa passed on from UTV to a rival company DAR Motion Pictures.
And Vidya apparently has readily agreed to be a part of Mehrunissa. However the priority dates have gone to UTV's Ghanchakkar.
"Sudhir has no option but to shoot together with her during year-end when she is free. Since he and producer Nikhil Advani are very keen to have Vidya on board to play Mehrunissa, they're willing to attend it out," says the source.
Vidya could be playing Mehrunissa in two different time zones, on the age of 20 and again on the age of 62. And we hear that Vidya's older role was modelled on Waheeda Rehman.
Says a source with reference to the project, "It's interesting that Vidya can be asked to model the older avatar of her character on Waheedaji and share screen space with Bachchan saab and Chintuji. Because Bachchan saab has frequently compared Vidya to Waheedaji."
Vidya will apparently be using some clever makeup and prosthetics to appear convincing opposite Big B and Rishi Kapoor. Producer Nikhil Advani kept away from commenting at the actress' presence in Mehrunissa.
Courtesy: Mid-Day.com
