Biopics and women-centric films are not the only things “hot” around Bollywood today, as the next Priyanka Chopra-starrer movie combines both the aspects with astronomy. Her latest project is all about the late Indian astronaut Kalpana Chawla. The actress was offered this titular role sometime back, but Chopra came on board for this project only now.
The movie about Kalpana Chawla will essentially focus on the journey of first Indian woman to go into space, in the year 1997. Chawla was born at Karnal in Haryana. Unfortunately, on her second space expedition, in 2003, the shuttle Columbia exploded, claiming the lives of seven crew members, including Chawla. The famous Indian astronaut spent 31 days, 14 hours, and 54 minutes in space.
Reports state that Chopra’s entire team has been actively involved with the pre-production work of the film. The movie will be directed by debutante Priya Mishra. Reports also suggest that the script for the film has been locked, and a new production house, Getaway will be bankrolling the film.
Viacom 18 had already announced its plan to make a biopic on an Indian astronaut, however, they had not revealed the name, or suggested anything about Chawla. Furthermore, Chopra had previously reflected keen interest in in producing that film under her new banner Purple Pebble Pictures. However, the project was eventually handed over to Getaway.
This movie will mark Chopra’s first Hindi movie, this year. The film is also her second biopic, post Omung Kumar’s 2014 sports drama Mary Kom. Besides Chopra, Aamir Khan and Sushant Singh Rajput also have their individual space projects. Khan will play Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian man to go into space, in the upcoming movie “Saare Jahan Se Achha”; while Rajput will star alongside Nawazuddin Siddiqui and R Madhavan in the film “Chanda Mama Door Ke.”
Priyanka is back from the States, meanwhile, after successfully completing the shoot for second season of her television show “Quantico”. During her stay in the city, she will also be promoting her Hollywood debut film ‘Baywatch‘.
