Mira Nair is reluctant to talk about the proposal to direct the fifth movie in the Harry Potter series,
but she's delighted to discuss her next project - an adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's novel "The
Namesake".
For those who wondered where Rani Mukherjee could go after Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Black" (which
opens in December), here's the answer in two words - Mira Nair.
Speaking from New York, where she has returned from the Venice premiere of "Vanity Fair", Nair
confirmed her collaboration with Rani.
"Yes, I've signed Rani Mukherjee to play the pivotal role
of Ashima in 'The Namesake'. I've been wooing her over the phone ever since I saw her in Mani
Ratnam's 'Yuva'."
This isn't the first time that duchess of diaspora Nair will direct an Indian cast.
She worked
with Nana Patekar and Aneeta Kanwar in her first film "Salaam Bombay", Sharmila Tagore and
Roshan Seth in "Mississippi Masala" and Naseeruddin Shah and a host of Indian actors in "Monsoon
Wedding".
As for the much-hyped reports about her being asked to direct the fifth segment of the Harry Potter
series, Nair is reluctant to discuss it.
Though she doesn't deny the fact that she has been
approached, Nair said: "Right now it's too early to talk about it. I don't know how it got out on the
websites. I have to sit with them and work out the dates.
"Until then I am forbidden from talking about it. Right now I'm fully into 'The Namesake' and looking
forward to meeting up with Rani."
Though she's extremely tight-lipped about her collaboration
with Nair, Rani, who goes into this project after her world tour with Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta,
is supposed to play a Bengali girl who ages from her teens to the mid-40s.
"The Namesake" is about the Bengali experience in the US and is Nair's second heroine-oriented
subject in a row. After her much talked-about collaboration with Reese Witherspoon, it would be
interesting to see what Nair does with Rani, who's currently riding an unprecedented career high with
hits like "Saathiya", "Chalte Chalte" and "Hum Tum" placing her ahead of the competition.
With Yash Chopra and Sanjay Bhansali's epics lined up for release, Rani's progression towards the
West seems natural and inevitable.
After "Vanity Fair", Nair was supposed to go into a
completely different project - a movie adaptation of American playwright Tony Kushner's
"Homebody/Kabul".
Nair changed her mind because she wanted to do something Indian after "Vanity Fair".
Mira
Nair will travel to Kolkata shortly to finalise the rest of the cast, though the male protagonist could be
played by an Indian actor from the US.