After his Boman Irani and Vir Das-starrer 'Santa Banta Pvt Ltd' hits the screens, filmmaker Akashdeep Sabiir will start work on his next, a biopic on the late actress
Priya Rajvansh
who was reportedly murdered in March, 2000, in writerdirector
Chetan Anand's Ruia Park bungalow in Mumbai, allegedly over property dispute with his sons, Ketan and Vivek.
'The late actor Jankidasji's son Shanu who knew Chetan and Priya closely had been toying with the idea of making a TV series on them. But when he narrated the story to me I knew I had to make a film on it,' says Akashdeep, adding that the film is based on Subodh Lal's book 'Priya Interrupted'. 'My wife (actress Sheeba) has been complaining that I haven't been talking much since I began research. I can't go wrong with this one. We'll lock the final script with the help of Shanu, Subodh and writer Mayank Sharma,' he informs.
'Chetan Anand was one of our most under-rated filmmakers' The film narrates Priya's life story from her arrival in Hindi films to the present status of the case. The accused, Ketan and Vivek and two of their employees, Mala Choudhary and Ashok Chinnaswamy, were sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court and were later released on bail. Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court accepted their appeal against the trial court's order. Have the makers pre-empted controversies given the legalities involved? 'The case is subjudiced. We will stop at the point where the real-life proceedings are today," he asserts, adding that he wants to make a musical with archival footage as montages in the beginning or in end credits.'
And who'd he cast as Priya? Akashdeep's wishlist includes
Kareena Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut and
Sonakshi Sinha and Randeeep Hooda tops his list for Chetan Anand. 'The cop who solved the case can be perfectly played by either Manoj Bajpayee or Ronit Roy,' he signs off.
WATCH: Bollywood
actress Sheeba returns to TV