Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment will co-produce Sujoy Ghosh’s upcoming crime thriller Badla, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu, Mumbai Mirror reported. Sunir Kheterpal’s Azure Entertainment is also bankrolling the film, a remake of Oriol Paulo’s Spanish hit The Invisible Guest (2016).
The production of Badla began in Glasgow last week. “I thought it was superlative material for AB [Bachchan] Sir and pitched it to him,” Ghosh told Mumbai Mirror. “Taapsee was already on board, SRK [Khan] also loved the source material and the collaboration happened seamlessly.”
The Invisible Guest narrates the story of a young businessman who hires a prestigious lawyer after he is accused of murdering his lover. Korean and Italian adaptations of the film are also reportedly in the works. Bachchan’s role in the Hindi remake has not been specified. In April, it was reported that Ali Fazal has been cast as the lead of the film, but there is no confirmation of that yet.
Bachchan has previously collaborated with Ghosh on Aladin (2009) and on Ribhu Dasgupta’s Te3n (2016), which was co-produced by Ghosh. Bachchan and Pannu were earlier seen together in Shoojit Sircar’s Pink (2016).
“When you get an actor like Amitabh Bachchan, half your battle is won as he’s every director’s delight and I’m extremely excited to direct him,” Ghosh told Mumbai Mirror. “Also, I have been trying to work with Taapsee for a while. This is the perfect story to collaborate with her on. My excitement is doubled now that the film is being produced by SRK. I couldn’t have asked for a better team and now it is time for work.”
Khan and Bachchan last worked together on Vivek Sharma’s horror-comedy Bhoothnath (2008) and its sequel, Bhoothnath Returns (2014). Khan made a special appearance in both films.
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