Madhuri Dixit Hot Gossips

Prakash Jha may fancy Angelina Jolie as Draupadi, but desi filmmakers want Mads With news doing the rounds that filmmaker Prakash Jha has written to Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, asking her to play Draupadi in his next international project, many are wondering if an international star can do justice to the role of an iconic Indian character. HT City spoke to Indian filmmakers and found that most would rather see a Bollywood actress — someone such as Madhuri Dixit — play the tragic princess.

“I would go with Madhuri Dixit. I can’t see a Hollywood actress as Draupadi unless the whole story is an English adaptation set in a foreign land,” says filmmaker Kunal Deshmukh. “There’s no question about it, Madhuri Dixit is definitely the choice for Draupadi,” said filmmaker Anthony D’Souza.

Interestingly, Madhuri was also Jha’s first choice, but because he wanted it to be an international project with an international cast, he decided to opt for a Hollywood name. Another name that came up in the quest for the “perfect” Draupadi was that of Bipasha Basu. In fact, director Rituparno Ghosh, who is also making a film on Draupadi’s character, is all set to cast Basu for the role.

“I wanted my Draupadi to be dark and attractive. Not a sex symbol, but she had to possess the oomph factor. I saw all these qualities in Bipasha,” he said in an earlier interview. For filmmaker Pritish Nandy too, the ideal choice is Bipasha. “Only one actress can play Draupadi —Bipasha. She has the perfect face for it.”