Filmmaker Alankrita Shrivastava, who last year co-directed the wedding drama series Made In Heaven for Amazon Prime, has moved to Netflix for her next offering. The director, known for her award-winning, female-driven black comedy Lipstick Under My Burkha (2017), is reportedly doing an urban female drama Bombay Begums for Netflix and shooting is already said to have been completed. PeepingMoon.com has learned that Bombay Begums stars Pooja Bhatt in the lead role. The Aashiqui heroine, who is returning to films after over a decade with her father Mahesh Bhatt's Sadak 2 this year, was brought on board after things didn't work out with Manisha Koirala who was the first choice for the makers.
The series is being told through the lives of five women of different ages and besides Bhatt, it also has Gully Boy and Sacred Games fame Amruta Subhash, Plabita Borthakur (Lipstick Under My Burkha) and Shahana Goswami (Heroine, Rock On 2) essaying lead female roles. While we didn't get the name of the fifth female lead, PeepingMoon.com has learned the show will also have a strong male cast with Rahul Bose, Manish Chaudhary (Uri: The Surgical Strike, Batla House) and Rituraj Singh (Badrinath Ki Dulhania) among others playing significant roles in the drama.
Bombay Begums has been described as a tale of five women of different generations who wrestle with desire, ethics, personal crisis and vulnerabilities to own their ambition. Set within the cutthroat world of Mumbai banking, the series is said to be exploring the triumphs and disappointments, the joys and dilemmas of urban women in depth. Written by Alankrita herself and executive produced by Chernin Entertainment and Endemoleshine Entertainment, this show is believed to be yet another powerful Netflix offering for audiences who like to watch offbeat, out-of-the-league stories that are focused on strong women characters.
Bombay Begums reportedly went on floors in November and was wrapped up last month with a late 2020 release plan on Netflix. Alankrita, meanwhile, is getting ready for the UK Asian Film Festival premiere of her feature film Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare at this month-end and will begin the filming of Amazon's Made In Heaven Season 2 next month. She is also believed to be working on three more feature film projects that will be announced shortly.
