Alas, that was not meant to be. Though Richa Chadha is a Punjabi, and Kalki Kochelin a South Indian, for a girl-bonding film that they will be shooting in September the two spunky actresses are swapping cultural identities.
Richa plays a Tamilian named Jiah Venakatraman, and Kalki, who in real life is from Pudiuherry, will play a Punjaban named Jiah Garewal.
And did we tell you? The film is called Jiah Aur Jiah. Bizarre, that this announcement comes just days after the actress Jiah Khan's tragic death
A case of tapping the collective tear ducts of an emotional nation?
Filmmaker Mudassar Aziz who co-produces the film along with Sunil Bohra vehemently denies his double-heroines' Jiah connection with the real life Jiah.
`My film and its concept of two girls named Jiah from different cultural background coming together in unexpected ways for a road-travel movie, materialized long before the tragic death of Jiah Khan. `
Mudassar admits Jiah Khan had approached him for a role. `Regrettably she didn't fit the bill. I needed two actresses with very specific cultural backgrounds. It had to be Richa and Kalki. And I was sure I wanted them to swap their cultural identities.
I wanted Richa to play the Tamilian and Kalki in the Punjaban. They are such deviously accomplished actresses. This is their chance to take another unexpected route. `
Interestingly Richa would be spending time in Kalki's home space in Pudicherry and Kalki would be visiting Richa's environment in Delhi, so that both actresses can get a feel of each other's culture before plunging into their parts.
The film to be directed by choreographer Howard Rosemeyer will be shot on Sweden.
Says Mudassar, `Why a girl-bonding film shot in Sweden? You may well ask. Well, my counter-question is, why not? Why do we have to have only films about guys bonding? Don't girls have fun when they get together? `
