Rani Mukerji to play a disabled character in Siddharth Malhotra's film 12 years after Black

After Kajol announced that she will be working on  Anand Gandhi’s next and Soundarya Rajinikanth’s Tamil drama Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 , her cousin and fellow actor Rani Mukerji is also set to start shooting for her next.

Mukerji was last seen in Pradeep Sarkar’s thriller Mardaani three years ago after which she took a maternity break. Now that her daughter Adira is a year old, she is keen on shooting for her next, which will be made under husband Aditya Chopra’s banner Yash Raj Films.

It was earlier reported that the film will be a biopic directed by Siddharth Malhotra, who had collaborated with Kajol in his directorial debut, the 2010 family drama We Are Family. Now, DNA reports that though it may not be a biopic but it has a strong message as it will see the protagonist Mukerji play a special character with disabilities.

“The film revolves around a guy who has a disability where he uncontrollably jumps and shouts while talking,” the report by DNA states. Initially, the protagonist was male which is why it was offered to Emran Hashmi. Though Hashmi had shown keen interest in the script and had also given his nod to turn producer for the film, he eventually backed out and chose to turn producer with another project.

Subsequently, Malhotra offered the film to Abhishek Bachchan, who also showed interest in the script but was taking too long to respond. As a result, Malhotra narrated the script to Chopra and Mukerji. Chopra agreed to produce the film but suggested that Malhotra change the protagonist to a female character as he thought that Mukerji is custom-made for the role.

Mukerji won laurels and all the top honours for her nuanced performance of a challenged character in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2005 film Black. Now, she will start shooting for Malhotra’s next either in mid-2017 or in the latter half of this year.