Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 5, 2016)

Mirror had reported (August 9) that Vidya Balan will be donning the avatars of Rani Lakshmi Bai, Razia Sultana and Mirabai in an important sequence of Srijit Mukherji’s upcoming Partition drama, Begum Jaan. Now, we hear Srijit who is making his directorial debut in Bollywood with the film has hopped on board as a cast member too for a special appearance.

A source from the film’s team informed Mirror, “The film also marks his acting debut. He plays wazir (minister) to Vidya’s Razia Sultana. The sequence unfolds with a child in the brothel run by Vidya imagining her as historical female figures. Srijit insisted on crowning his leading lady during her on-screen coronation himself. The sequences were shot at a heritage hotel in the Capital recently.”

Srijit confirmed the news, saying, “Yes, I’ve done a cameo but there are no dialogues.”

While most of Begum Jaan was shot in Jharkhand, the historical sequences were filmed in Delhi over four days. Interestingly, the said portions weren’t a part of the Bengali film Rajkahini from which Begum Jaan is adapted.