Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt’s Vishesh Films is known for making thrillers, many of them remakes of foreign films. But for the first time, the production house is remaking a regional language film into Hindi. Its next project is the remake of the successful Bengali film Rajkahini, titled Begum Jaan.
The story revolves around the madam of a brothel and a group of prostitutes. Due to such a high number of characters, the film has an ensemble cast of Vidya Balan, who plays the madam of the brothel, Ila Arun, Shriya Saran, Gauahar Khan, Pallavi Sharda (of Besharam fame), Mishti, Flora Saini, Ridhima Tiwari, Priyanka Sethia, Ravija Chauhan and Poonam Rajput.
Begum Jaan also stars Pitobash (of Short In The City and Shanghai), who returns after a long hiatus. The film recently went on the floors. The picture of the the entire team at a table read was shared by Pitobash on Twitter. It features the entire ensemble cast. The movie also marks the surprising return of Vivek Mushran, who rose to fame briefly in the 1990s with films like Saudagar (1991) and Ram-Jaane (1995).
Directed by Srijit Mukherjee, who also helmed the original, the film is scheduled to release in March 2017.