Problems hog Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair

Mira Nair has no time to ponder over what critiques say for her new movie ‘Vanity Fair’ based on William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair. She has already started working on her next film - ‘The Namesake’.

The Namesake is the on screen adaptation of Pulitzer Prize-winning Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel about the Bengali expatriate community in Boston.

The movie revolves around a Bengali family that left the shores of India in the 1960s. Nair’s film will be located in both Calcutta and New York.

The Namesake is expected to be ready for worldwide release by the end of 2005. Mira Nair says the film will be her tribute to Calcutta.

But from the very beginning ‘The Namesake’ has been in news from all the wrong reasons.

First, it was Rani Mukerji who opted out of Mira Nair’s The Namesake. Now, it is Abhishek Bachchan’s turn.

While both actors have cited the usual date problems, their real reasons for not doing the film are clear.

Rani declined the project because her dates apparently clashed with Karan Johar’s next directorial venture.

Truth is she was required to play Abhishek’s mother in ‘The Namesake’. With the two being cast as lovers in Shaad Ali’s Bunty Aur Babli, Rani knew The Namesake was not quite the thing to do.

Rani’s replacement, Konkona, belongs to Calcutta and is the daughter of one of Bengal’s best known stars, Aparna Sen.

The reason for Abhishek leaving the movie is not immediately known. But people close to him tell that he was in two minds about doing the movie. And with ‘Vanity Fair’ getting lukewarm response he said goodbye to Mira Nair and ‘The Namesake’.