Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 10, 2015)


KANGANA RANAUT
The Zahir is an interesting book by Paulo Coelho, a story about a husband and a wife. There is no particular character in it for me since the wife is missing all the time. So, I think I'd like to direct the film rather than act in it.


BHUMI PEDNEKAR
My favourite novel is Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman Of Substance. I'd love for it to be made into a film or rather a series of films and would want to play the protagonist, Emma Harte, who goes from being a maid to a successful entrepreneur. She is beautiful, strong, independent, maternal and ambitious. Complete in her own way, just like all us girls out there.



RICHA CHADHA
I like The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare. It's an interesting read and I would like to play the shrew since I can relate to her.


AMY JACKSON
I enjoyed The Island by Victoria Hislop, which focusses on love and tragedy, betrayal and loyalty, and everything else that goes into love. I'd love to play Alexis who's on a mission from London to Greece to discover more about her family's past. I love the Mediterranean, Greece in particular, and being transported back in time, would be a great trip.


KALKI KOECHLIN
I'd love some of the stories in Mafia Queens Of Mumbai to be made into films. The book says so much about Mumbai as a city of survivors, and tells the stories of women, something we rarely see on our screen. I'd like to play Sapna Didi, who defied Dawood's gang after her husband who worked for them is killed. I think it's incredible the way she went on to become a legend and all that she went through. And it all began with love...


MALLIKA SHERAWAT
Chitra Banerjee's The Palace Of Illusions takes us back to the era of The Mahabharata. Narrated by Panchali, whom I'd love to play, it's a rare feminist interpretation of the epic. It begins with Panchali's magical birth from fire and moves to her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who've been cheated out of their kingdom. It talks about her relationship with ma-in-law Kunti, her friendship with the enigmatic Krishna and her secret attraction to Karana, her husbands' foe. She's a fiery female voice in a world of warriors, Gods and the ever-manipulating hands of Fate.