New Delhi, March 14: The first thing you notice about the new trailer of Begum Jaan is the impressive ensemble cast: From Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Rajit Kapur, Ashish Vidyarthi, Vivek Mushran, Chunky Pandey and Ila Arun to Gauahar Khan and Pallavi Sharda. The second? Their stirring performance.
Begum Jaan aka hookah-smoking Vidya owns it as the bold owner of a brothel in the period drama: Complete with ample cleavage and statement unibrow. While all actors look impressive in their parts, it is actor Chunky Pandey who looks strikingly different.
Set in the time of partition, the film chronicles the lives of National award-winner Vidya and the women living in her brothel in rural Punjab.
The trailer begins with veteran Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan’s voice-over explaining the premise of the film: It is set during the partition era when India and Pakistan are drawing their borders.
Unfortunately, Vidya’s brothel falls right at the border and is to be divided in such a way that half of it falls in India and the other half in Pakistan. The inhabitants are warned by the administrators to vacate the premises, but because they refuse, it leads to tragic and violent consequences.
Begum Jaan is a Hindi adaptation of director Srijit Mukherji’s Bengali film Rajkahini. It is scheduled to arrive in cinema houses on April 14.
