New additions to the star cast of ‘Begum Jaan’ starring Vidya Balan

The Vidya Balan starrer ‘Begum Jaan’ will soon be seeing new additions to the star cast. We have learnt that ‘Hawaizaada’ actresses Pallavi Sharda and Priyanka Sethia, ex-Bigg Boss winner Gauahar Khan, ‘Dhanak’ actress Flora Saini, TV actress Ridhima Tiwari, Ravija Chauhan and Poonam Rajput have been cast as the prostitutes living in the brothel.

The director of the film Srijit Mukherjee says, “The characters are set in the Partition era and have faced a lot of adversities in life, so I wanted actors who could understand the emotions, pain and the never-say-die attitude. These girls fit the roles perfectly.”

The director reveals, “I have been doing workshops with them since a month and have recommended to them books on partition by authors like Urvashi Butalia, Suvir Kaul and Joya Chatterji. Besides, we have also been discussing the back-stories of their characters so they understand them better. Some of them are watching ‘Rajkahini’ as well.”

‘Begum Jaan’, is the Hindi remake of critically-acclaimed Bengali Partition tale, ‘Rajkahini’ is coming up and will go on floors in June.

The movie sees Vidya depicting the role of a high-spirited strong woman. The story has been set up in the aftermath of Bengal partition around 1947 and moves around the life of 11 women living in a brothel that is based on the line of control thus half of it lies in India and the other half in Pakistan.

Prajakta Ajgaonkar

Passionate about writing, and a Bollywood lover, she is all that is sweet and endearing! She desires to put her best foot forward in everything that she does and loves to help anyone who’s in need.