To date, Sujoy Ghosh’s ‘Kahaani’ led by Vidya Balan remains a classic and fan-favourite thriller. Created on a humble budget of 80 million as compared to other mainstream titles, the film garnered immense critical and commercial success. Lauded for its mind-bending and gripping narrative, the film racked up 1.04 billion globally. The film grabbed three National Awards and five Filmfare awards. Hailed as one of the best works of both Sujoy Ghosh and Vidya Balan, the film faced its own set of challenges. In a recent interview with casting director Mukesh Chhabra on Mashable India, the filmmaker revealed that Vidya Balan had to change inside a covered car due to the tight budget.
Talking about the time, Ghosh revealed that ‘Kahaani’ was his next following the box-office dud, ‘Aladin.’ Ghosh had high hopes for the film starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh, and Jacqueline Fernandez. He gave four years to the project but it failed badly at the box office. Reflecting on the times, Ghosh expressed gratitude towards Vidya for not backing from her commitment even though she could.
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Sujoy Ghosh remarked, “I saw Vidya when she was at Sanjay Gupta’s office to hear a narration from Meghna Gulzar. I gave her ₹1 that day and told her we’d make a movie together. She saved me; she was Kahaani. She could’ve easily said no after Aladin, but she stuck to it. You have no idea; we had no budget. So, we had no vanity van. We used to cover an Innova with black cloth and she would change inside. She’s so dedicated.” Moreover, he added that Balan is a woman of her word, just like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan.
‘Kahaani’ starred Vidya Balan as Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant woman looking for her missing husband in Kolkata during the festival of Durga Puja. She is assisted by Asst. Sub-Inspector Satyoki ‘Rana’ Sinha (played by Parambrata Chatterjee). Moreover, she finds an ally in Inspector General A Khan (played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui). Additionally, the film also featured Saswata Chatterjee.
Moving ahead, Vidya is gearing up to return as Manjulika to the ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ franchise in its third instalment. Apart from Vidya Balan, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ stars Kartik Aaryan, Triptii Dimri, and Madhuri Dixit. On the other hand, Sujoy Ghosh will next direct Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘King.’