Priyanka Chopra to play Indira Gandhi in biopic?

NEW DELHI - After Madhuri Dixit backed out from the project on personal grounds, Indian origin US filmmaker Krishna Shah is now considering casting Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra in the lead role in a biopic on late prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Titled “Mother: The Indira Gandhi Story”, it will be a big-budget two-part movie on the life of the Indian leader who was known as Iron Lady. Shah is working on the casting with Academy Award winning make-up artiste Jenny Shircore.

After going through the photographs of many Indian actresses, Shircore believes that Priyanka is the only Bollywood actress whom she can make look like Indira Gandhi after some prosthetic work on her face, Shircore says Priyanka’s face matches that of the late prime minister.

“Yes, I am in conversation with Jenny who thinks that Priyanka is the one who can fit in the character of Indira, but it will be too premature to talk about casting as we have not approached anybody as yet,” Shah said in a statement.

Madhuri could not do the movie because of her mother-in-law’s illness.

Shah is reportedly also in conversation with other actors like Albert Finney, Emily Watson, Tom Hanks and Tommy Lee Jones to play other characters in the film.

The first part of the movie will be based on Indira Gandhi’s life till the 1971 war, while part two will look more into her personal life as a mother to her sons — Rajiv, who succeeded her as the prie minister, and Sanjay Gandhi.

The script of the movie has also undergone changes.

“The script has been reworked after I got my hands on Richard Nixon’s personal tapes related to the 1971 Bangladesh War. My research has changed the script a lot and now we are looking at casting an appropriate face for Indira Gandhi’s character,” said Shah.