Director Kamal unsure over why Vidya Balan walked out of Kamala Das biopic

Creative disagreement, or was Vidya Balan forced to leave after Kamal's ongoing tussle with the BJP?
Director Kamal unsure over why Vidya Balan walked out of Kamala Das biopic
Director Kamal unsure over why Vidya Balan walked out of Kamala Das biopic
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 Right from the time director Kamal took over as Chairman of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy in July last year, controversy seems to be doggedly following his every move since then.

Apart from being the latest poster-boy for the Sangh Parivar’s hate-campaign against ‘anti-nationals’ -this for terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi a ‘man-eater’- there seems to be more bad news for Kamal on the professional front too.

Director Kamal confirmed to The News Minute that Bollywood superstar Vidya Balan has indeed walked out of his biopic Aami based on the life of writer Kamala Das aka Kamala Surayya.

While Vidya’s exit has left industry circles wondering, Kamal himself admits to being utterly confused by this totally unexpected move on the actor’s part.

Vidya has apparently not given him a clear answer regarding her sudden exit from the project that was scheduled for a 2017 Vishu release, though it was given to understand that she was having trouble ‘becoming’ the character.

So was it creative disagreement that led to the walkout? Kamal says if that was so, it should have happened much earlier, with professional ethics now coming into play.

With the actor having already inked the contract to play the lead character, Kamal has now left it to the producer’s discretion on how to deal with this last-minute backing out of a movie that was conceptualized almost two years ago.

Reports abound in the media of how this has something to do with Kamal’s recent spats with the Bharatiya Janata Party that began with the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling making it mandatory for the National Anthem to be played in movie-halls across India before every screening.   

The acclaimed director had drawn the ire of the saffronists for his remarks on the said ruling at the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) that was held in Thiruvananthapuram last December.

The filmmaker however pointedly refused to comment on whether Vidya walking out of Aami had anything to do with his political stance, saying that all that is a matter of pure conjecture by the press. Whatever he says at this point of time, is bound to be misinterpreted one way or the other, Kamal reiterated.

He had earlier told TNM that Vidya was -after Sreevidya- his only choice to play Madhavikutty.

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