Last year, Manish Malhotra delighted film buffs by announcing he would helm a Meena Kumari biopic, but according to reports by Indian media, the ace Indian fashion designer has now confirmed that the project has been shelved.
Speaking at the premiere of his debut production Saali Mohabbat at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, the designer-turned-producer confirmed, "I'm not doing the biopic. I'll direct something else. Directing is one dream that remains unfulfilled."
The news will come as a disappointment for fans, many of whom had been nursing high expectations. Had Malhotra continued, the project would have starred Kriti Sanon in the lead. In an interview last year, back when the biopic was still on the table, the celebrity designer had expressed an admiration for the late Bollywood legend. "We are still working on the script," he had said at the time. "The film is based on her books. I have always been fascinated by Meena Kumari."
Based on Malhotra's latest statement, that fascination is unlikely to yield fruit in the near future. However, the fashion guru is still keen to chart out new territory in filmmaking for himself. "All fashion designers don't have a film sense, but some do," he noted. "With me, it was organic because I was in love with films since childhood, watching the works of Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt, or Mehmood Khan. I love the '70s, their songs, and costumes. I am steeped in films. That's why I get how it works."
As per The Indian Express, Malhotra's production venture, Saali Mohabbat, is a thriller directed by Tisca Chopra and features Radhika Apte, Divyenndu, and Anurag Kashyap. With Saali Mohabbat marking his debut as a producer, Malhotra has several other projects in the pipeline, including Bun Tikki starring Zeenat Aman and Abhay Deol, and Ul Jalool Ishq starring Naseeruddin Shah, Fatima Sana Sheikh and Vijay Verma.
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