BOLLYWOOD GEARS UP FOR NAGIN TRILOGY STARRING SHRADDHA

After television, Bollywood is all set to dive into the Nagin world with a three film series based on the shape-shifting Nagin. For the titular role, the makers of the film have roped in Shraddha Kapoor. Paving her way to super-stardom with back-to-back successes with films like ‘Baaghi 3’, ‘Chhichhore’, ‘Stree’, Shraddha is all set to step into a role that has been revolutionised by several top actresses of their times and will be one-of-a-kind in her filmography.

Announcing the film on Wednesday, Shraddha Kapoor said, “It’s an absolute delight for me to play a nagin on screen. I have grown up watching, admiring and idolising Sridevi ma’am’s ‘Nagina and Nigahen’ and always wanted to play a similar role rooted in Indian traditional folklore. It’s like playing an iconic character, which has always been so fascinating for the audience..”

Touted as a mythological trilogy, ‘Nagin’ will be directed by award-winning director Vishal Furia and produced by Nikhil Dwivedi under the banner of Saffron Broadcast & Media Ltd. Essentially a love story, both Vishal Furia and Nikhil Dwivedi plan to mount the film with some exciting VFX. The release date of the film is yet to be decided.

Ekta Kapoor, who has successfully managed to carve a Naagin world on Indian television, had earlier spoken about adapting the television series into a franchise. She had even approached leading Bollywood actresses like Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra but the project couldn’t pan out as desired.

In a conversation with an entertainment portal, Ekta said, “After ‘The Dirty Picture’, I decided to make ‘Naagin’ as a film. I decided to take that concept to two actresses. I still remember, I went to Katrina and she told me, ‘After ‘Dirty Picture’, you want to make something pathbreaking’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I want to make ‘Naagin’.’ She looked at me and thought I had smoked something really nice. I think she wanted my dealer’s number, which of course is a joke. She was like, ‘Are you serious? You want to make something called Naagin in today’s time? Will people watch it?’ Then, I went to PC, it was around the time when she was going abroad.”