Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 19, 2018)

Vidya Balan and Akshay Kumar, who have worked in two films — Sajid Khan’s Heyy Babyy and Priyadarshan’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa — besides several guest turns, are set to reunite on screen after 11 years. The actor-duo is on-board R Balki’s yet-untitled next directorial. The film, which will also be produced by Balki, is based on India’s Mangalyaan space mission aka the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), of 2014, which was a huge success.

A source associated with the project revealed, “Vidya, who plays the leader of the team of scientists in the film, is set to kick off her prep in December, a month before the film goes on the floors. She and Akshay are teaming up after a long time but aren’t paired opposite each other. Balki is currently looking for three other actresses to play scientists alongside Vidya in the film.”

Mangalyaan was launched on November 5, 2013, by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), as India’s first interplanetary mission, earning the organisation fourth place among space agencies that have reached Mars, after the Soviet space program, NASA, and the European Space Agency. Subsequently, India became the first Asian nation to reach the Mars orbit, and the first nation in the world to do so in its first attempt.

In September this year, it was announced that Mangalyaan has completed four years orbiting Mars. Although the designed mission life of MOM was six months, the satellite has continued to beam back science data from Mars for the last four years.