What Vidya Balan did was highly unethical and inappropriate says Kamala Das’ biopic director

'Going into a regional film would ve perhaps sent the wrong signal to Vidya Balan's Bollywood producers' says a source close to Kamaluddin Mohammed

By DNA
| Updated: January 14, 2017 10:24 AM IST

Malayali filmmaker Kamaluddin Mohammed (better known as Kamal) is not only being attacked by right-wing religious organisations, who have branded him as “anti-national” for his stand against demonetisation, his leading lady Vidya Balan has abruptly opted out of Aami, his proposed biopic on the life and times of poet-author-iconoclast Kamala Das. Also Read - Deepika Padukone at BAFTA, Alia Bhatt for Poacher: Indian divas who made saree cool at global red carpet

Kamal’s hospitalised
All the stress has taken its toll on the director. This week, Kamal was hospitalised with stress-related ailments. A close friend and associate of Kamal says it is unfortunate that the filmmaker has to go through this trauma for no reason at all. “Kamal is the gentlest, kindest soul who wouldn’t hurt a fly. His cinema and his life reflect an absolute devotion to non-partisan politics. To label him anti-national and then, to add insult to injury, was too much for him to take. Kamal is going through very stressful times and yes, he was hospitalised.” said the friend. Also Read - Ileana D’Cruz shares a gorgeous bathroom selfie from her pregnancy days, breaks the internet

Why wait?
“The story of Kamala Das is much larger than any of us, who were the core team of the project. The film will be made without Ms Balan. We’ll announce a new lead in a few weeks. We don’t know why Vidya chickened out at the last minute. We don’t think it was right-wing pressure. We think Kamala Das finally proved too controversial for Vidya to play. We’ve no problem with her opting out. But why did she wait till we were ready to shoot? Why didn’t she inform us of her decision before? She did not even communicate her decision directly to the director. Kamal was in the dark about her decision to quit until he got a cursory call from one of Ms Balan’s team members. Until then, she simply cancelled two schedules without indicating her unwillingness to do the film. Is this the way to announce your exit from a film for which you were preparing eagerly for the last one year?” Also Read - Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and more Top 10 Bollywood stars who have weird habits

Wrong signals?
The source says that the director had even hired a Malayali coach to work on Vidya’s Malayalam lines. “She was keen on playing Kamala until a month ago. She was working on her Malayali accent and on Kamala’s personality traits. We don’t know what happened. Perhaps after six to seven successive failures in Hindi, going into a regional film would’ve sent the wrong signal to her Bollywood producers.”

When this writer finally got through to Kamal, he reacted softly but sharply. “What Vidya Balan did was highly unethical and inappropriate. She has left us in the lurch when we were ready to shoot. But we will make the film. This is my dream project,” he said.

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ByDNA
| Updated: January 14, 2017 10:24 AM IST