The highly anticipated biopic on ‘Madhubala’, one of Indian cinema’s most iconic stars, remains in development, but recent reports claiming that Kiara Advani would play the legendary actress have been dismissed as baseless.
Variety India had reported on Saturday that Advani had been finalised for the lead role, with Sanjay Leela Bhansali producing the project. However, speaking to Hindustan Times, an industry source confirmed that the claims were false.
“There is absolutely no truth to the reports currently circulating about Kiara Advani being cast in a Madhubala biopic produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The claims are completely baseless and speculative,” the source said.
Details about the film are otherwise limited, but it is known that Jasmeet K. Reen, who made her directorial debut with the black comedy-drama ‘Darlings’ starring Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah and Vijay Varma, will direct the project.
Kiara Advani was last seen in ‘War 2’, part of the YRF Spy Universe, alongside Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR. She will next appear in ‘Toxic: A FairyTale for GrownUps’, which features Yash, Nayanthara, Tara Sutaria, Huma Qureshi and Rukmini Vasanth.
Madhubala, regarded as one of the most influential Indian actors, began her career as a child artist at the age of eight. At 14, she made her debut as a female lead in Neel Kamal (1947), a success that led to numerous major projects.
Over the following decade, she starred in hits such as ‘Mr & Mrs ’55’, ‘Raj Hath’, ‘Kala Pani’, ‘Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi’ and ‘Howrah Bridge’. By the mid-1950s, aged just 21, she was among the highest-paid actors in India, surpassed only by Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand. Her career peaked with the 1960 epic ‘Mughal-e-Azam’, one of the most celebrated films in Indian cinema history.
Madhubala’s career was cut short due to a congenital heart defect. Her final film, ‘Sharabi’, was released in 1964, and she passed away in 1969 at the age of 36.
