Ritesh Batra to Direct Vidya Balan as Indira Gandhi in Web Series

This will be Vidya Balan’s web debut.

Ritesh Batra (L), Vidya Balan (R).

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Filmmaker Ritesh Batra of Irrfan Khan’sThe Lunch Box and Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Photograph fame will be directing Vidya Balan's debut web-series where the actor will essay the role of Indira Gandhi.

Vidya has bought the rights to journalist Sagarika Ghose's book Indira: India's Most Powerful Prime Minister on which the series will be based.

"Ritesh is directing the series," a source close to the development confirmed.

Vidya had earlier said in an interview that the project has been under development for a while courtesy its subject.

“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.”

Vidya Balan

“The Indira Gandhi web series is taking longer than I wish. They’re rewriting the script according to the web, and will soon come to me with the final version. Web is a different ballgame so it takes more time. I was offered the role five years ago also, by multiple people. But I told them as long as you don’t get the requisite permissions, I can’t do the film. But it’s much easier in web.”

Vidya Balan

Vidya can currently be seen in the true-story based Mission Mangal which also stars Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Taapsee Pannu, Nithya Menen, Kriti Kulhari and Sharman Joshi. The film released on Independence Day and took a solid opening at the box office.

(With Inputs From: PTI, Firstpost, Mid-Day)