Kangana Ranaut's 'Emergency' Faces Delay Due to Certification Issues; Vidya Balan's Web Series on Indira Gandhi Also Stuck

Kangana Ranaut on Friday announced on her ‘X’ handle that she is sad that her debut directorial venture 'Emergency' will not be released on September 6 as it is still awaiting approval from the Central Board of Film Certification. The actress-filmmaker, who plays former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in this period political thriller based on the 1975 Emergency, said that the Sikh community has objected to their portrayal in parts of her film. Meanwhile, a web series on Indira Gandhi, in which Vidya Balan is to be seen, is also stuck.

Long before Kangana Ranaut started working on the film 'Emergency', in 2018, Vidya Balan bought the writers of journalist Sagarika Ghose's 2017 book 'Indira: India's Most Powerful Prime Minister'. Vidya said that it was her long-time dream to play Indira Gandhi on screen. Her husband Siddharth Roy Kapur was a producer under his banner Roy Kapur Films. In an interview given to Firstpost in 2019, Vidya revealed some things about this web series. The actress had told that a web series was being planned instead of a film on Indira Gandhi and it was to be directed by Ritesh Batra of 'Lunchbox' fame.

In the same interview, Vidya revealed why she turned down the opportunity to play former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 'Thalaivi' which is a biopic directed by AL Vijay. She said that since she was already set to play Indira Gandhi on screen, she did not want to play two political figures of the same age who are very close to each other.

However, Kangana Ranaut played both Jayalalithaa in 2011's 'Thalaivi' and Indira Gandhi in 'Emergency'. Emergency is co-produced by Zee Studios and Kangana's Manikarnika Films.