Actor Vidya Balan recently confirmed that she would be playing the role of veteran politician Indira Gandhi in an unnamed upcoming web series.
The series which made based on journalist Sagarika Ghose's book, Indira: India's Most Powerful Prime Minister, will be produced by Ronnie Screwvala. The rights of the book has been already bought by the team according to Vidya hence they will not be seeking approval by Gandhi family.
The reason why the book is being turned into a web series and not a movie is that the team feels there is too much good material.
Vidya Balan was quoted as saying in an interview "There is too much material for it be made into a film. So, we decided to turn it into a web series. We don’t know how many seasons we will be allotting to it. We are in the process of putting together a team."
The team is still in its inception stage with the other actors associated with the project not yet finalised.
Apart from being the first women Prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi was also a prominent figure of Congress and was often shrouded in controversies. She also at the centre of many debates regarding her decision to declare State of Emergency in India in 1975.
Apart from this project, Vidya will also be seen playing the role of actor-politician N T Rama Rao's wife Basavatarakam in a bilingual project.
"It is my first Telugu film, so I am very excited as I have never spoken and delivered dialogues in other language. I did a small appearance in a Malayalam film but here I have a full-fledged role. I am playing NTR ji's wife Basavatarakam," Balan told reporters here at an event last evening.