Taapsee Pannu or Bhumi Pednekar to headline freedom fighter Usha Mehta's biopic

The trend of making biopics in Bollywood is not going anywhere. Almost half a dozen such projects are at various stages of development in the industry and several more are on the anvil.

Reports have been doing the rounds lately that after the huge success of Shershaah (2021), filmmaker Karan Johar is set to produce yet another biopic under Dharma Productions. The untitled film will be based on the life of freedom fighter Usha Mehta. The latest we hear is that the makers have narrowed down on two names for the titular role in the biopic.

An Indian publication reports that the unforgettable achievements of Usha Mehta have inspired director Ketan Mehta, who is the nephew of the freedom fighter, and he wishes to develop a film on the Gandhian who had helped establish Congress Radio. The underground radio station amplified Mahatma Gandhi’s message of peaceful rebellion during the Quit India movement.

Ketan Mehta, who has previously helmed such biopics as Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005) and Manjhi: The Mountain Man (2015), wants either Taapsee Pannu or Bhumi Pednekar to play the freedom fighter in the biopic.

The filmmaker is presently busy drafting the final script of the film. “Ketan has simultaneously begun pre-production and aims to kick off the film by late 2021. He has narrowed down his choices for the lead to Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar. Given the actors’ busy date diaries after the second lockdown, the casting will be locked by November,” a source in the know informs the publication.

Meanwhile, Taapsee Pannu has her plate full with several exciting projects not only in Bollywood but Tollywood and Kollywood also. Some of her upcoming films include Blurr, Rashmi Rocket, Looop Lapeta, Dobaaraa, Shabaash Mithu, Mishan Impossible, Annabelle Sethupathi, Jana Gana Mana, and Alien.

Bhumi Pednekar, on the other hand, next stars in Raksha Bandhan and Badhaai Do.