Upala KBR (MID-DAY; December 5, 2017)

With the debacle of Rangoon behind him, Vishal Bhardwaj is set to kick-off work on his next, Churiya. The filmmaker, impressed by her act in the recently released Bareilly Ki Barfi, has already roped in Kriti Sanon for the film. Giving Shakespearean works a break, this time he has turned to family relationships for inspiration. The venture is set in a small town of Rajasthan.

A source tells mid-day that Sanon has been roped in to play a sister in this film, based on sibling rivalry. “The film is set in a small town of Rajasthan, where fights between two sisters can get ugly, and physically and verbally abusive. The word, Churiya, can have two meanings; here it refers to girls who can be as sharp as knives. Vishal and Kriti have been meeting regularly for the past few weeks. Kriti has also started taking workshops to up her act. She has almost been finalised for the part of the younger sister,” the source says, adding that dates and remuneration are currently being discussed.

Interestingly, a previous collaboration with Sanon had apparently fallen apart after Bhardwaj rejected the actor following her screen test for another venture, titled Padeeu. While Bhardwaj, we hear, has been meeting multiple actors to find a suitable cast to pair with Sanon, Sonakshi Sinha and Vaani Kapoor have emerged as prime contenders. “Vishal approached many actors, including Parineeti Chopra, Bhumi Pednekar, Sonakshi Sinha and Shraddha Kapoor, for the part of the older sister. He even made them deliver screen tests. He is yet to arrive at a name.”

The filmmaker, the source says, has been treading carefully with this outing, given that a commercial success is now crucial for his career. Initially speculated to have been working on Abbottabad, an adaptation of the book, The Exile: The Stunning Inside Story Of Osama Bin Laden And Al Qaeda In Flight, Bhardwaj, we hear, will explore the venture after Churiya wraps up. The filmmaker has also put Padeeu, with Nawazuddin Siddiqui on the backburner after a fallout with the actor.