Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 28, 2018)

A day after Mirror reported that Priyanka Chopra had walked out of Ali Abbas Zafar’s Salman Khan-starrer Eid 2019 release, Bharat, the filmmaker took to Twitter to confirm the development. “Priyanka is no more part of the film and the reason is very special, she told us in the Nick of time about her decision and we are very happy for her,” the filmmaker teased with his post. Soon after, People.com reported that the 36-year-old actress and her American singer-songwriter beau Nick Jonas, 25, who have been dating for two months, are engaged.

According to the report, Nick proposed to the actress on her birthday on July 18 in London. The informer also revealed that the singer even closed the flagship Tiffany store in New York to find the perfect ring. While everyone was talking about the supposed engagement and the wedding that could happen in a few months or even weeks, a report recalled PeeCee’s mother, Madhu Chopra, telling an Indian daily in June that she “couldn’t imagine Priyanka with a foreigner”.

However, when Nick had flown down to India with PeeCee on June 22, she had been happy to spend time with the couple. Nick had stayed with his lady love in her Juhu bungalow before the couple went to Goa for a short break. They returned to attend the pre-engagement bash of Akash Ambani and Shloka Mehta together on June 29 before flying back to the US. Whiel the engagement news sent rumour mills into overdrive, with several industry watchers even crunching numbers on the couple’s net worth (an estimated $36 million at last count), a source told Mirror that PeeCee has plans to revive the Kalpana Chawla biopic and reportedly this is the big project she quit Bharat for.

Priya Mishra who is supposed to direct the film which PeeCee will be producing, said, “Work on the biopic has been on for many years, for me it is a work in progress. Priyanka, Viacom18 and I are still making that film together. I don’t know if it will start in a few months’ time, but it is definitely not happening right now.”

Meanwhile, Meenu Aroraa, who is working on another biopic on Chawla, one of the seven crew members who died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, insists that she has the rights to the book published the same year, Kalpana Chawla - A Life, written by Anil Padmanabhan. “We are talking to a few actors and a studio. To make a film like this, you either need book rights or permission from the subject who in this case is deceased. I don’t know what rights Priyanka and her producers have. I only know that my film will not feature Priyanka,” she signs off.

Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; April 24, 2017)

Priyanka Chopra has been missing from the Hindi film scene after Jai GangaaJal released early last year. But it won’t be long before she greets Bollywood fans in theatres. The actress will take up the biopic on late astronaut Kalpana Chawla as her next project.

Last year, Viacom18 had announced a film based on a life of an astronaut, without taking names. A source says, “The film will be mounted on an international scale. A new production company, Getway, is likely to produce the biopic.”

After wrapping up Quantico season 2 shoot, Priyanka returned to Mumbai on Saturday and will soon kickstart the promotions of her Hollywood flick, Baywatch. Sources close to the project reveal PeeCee’s team has also been involved in legwork of the project for nearly a year. “The script has also been locked,” adds a source.

Confirming the story, debutante director Priya Mishra says, “I have been working on it for the past seven years. A new production banner will back the project.” Priya has also met Kalpana’s parents several times as part of her research for the film. “I was last heading a TV channel creatively and post 2011, quit to pursue filmmaking. This is one of the two scripts that I have written,” she adds.

Kalpana, the first Indian woman astronaut in space, hailed from Karnal, Haryana. She died on her second expedition along with six other crew members in February 2003 when the space shuttle exploded. She spent 31 days, 14 hours and 54 minutes in space.

Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 5, 2014)

Taapsee Pannu, who is yet to wrap the final schedule of Neeraj Pandey's Baby opposite Akshay Kumar, has already signed her next. This time, she will romance Irrfan Khan on screen.

Mirror has learnt that former creative head of a TV channel, Priya Mishra, will make her feature film debut with Sunderkand, a gritty love story set in Uttar Pradesh. It will be produced by Shailesh Singh, who had bankrolled Tanu Weds Manu.

Revealed a source close to the project, "The film is about two cops, played by Irrfan and Taapsee, who fall in love in the crime-infested state. The film will go on floors in the first week of October. However, the makers are yet to lock on the town where they will shoot it."

Confirming the same, Priya told Mirror, "The story is inspired by my brother and his wife (name with held on request), who are still with the police force. I toyed with the idea for a long time and finally got down to writing it. Taapsee and Irrfan were the ideal choice."

Taapsee added, "After Baby, it was important that I choose the right film. When Sunderkand came to me, I knew I could not let go of such a beautiful story. I play a cop, which is something I haven't attempted in the past."