UPDATED

Meghna Gulzar’s last film Talvar struck a chord with critics and the masses alike. The filmmaker is now flagging off Raazi, her next which is a screen adaptation of Harinder Sikka’s book, ‘Calling Sehmat’. The film features Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal in the lead roles. While Alia is known for experimenting with roles, be it her characters in Highway, Udta Punjab or Dear Zindagi, Vicky has carried off a variety of roles from the boy next door in Masaan to a top cop in Raman Raghav.

On signing ‘Raazi’, Vicky said, “I’m honored to be getting an opportunity to work with Meghna Gulzar and also looking forward to working with Alia, who I feel is one of the finest actresses we have at the moment. Actually, the entire team is so talented and especially to be working with Dharma Productions is rewarding for any young actor. I’ll soon wrap up Raju sir’s film and will begin shooting for Raazi.

Meghna is said to have conducted a workshop for the actors to get in the skin of their character. Alia and Vicky would be given hands on training on the film and on the kind of performance the director expects from them. The film revolves around the story of a Kashmiri woman, who is married to a Pakistani Army Officer and so Alia and Vicky are training on the dialect and accent as well as the general features of the character. Set against the backdrop of the 1971 war, this is going to be a very real drama and thus the feelings expressed have to be authentic.

It will be interesting to see this unique pairing of experimental actors together in this movie.