'Begum Jaan,' a partition story through the eyes of prostitutes: Vidya Balan

Dubbing her upcoming period drama, 'Begum Jaan,' as a unique story, Vidya Balan said that it traces the story of India and Pakistan through the eyes of prostitutes.

Talking about the Srijit Mukherji directorial, wherein she's playing the role of a brothel owner in a story of survival set against the backdrop of the country's partition in 1947, the 38-year-old actress told the media here, "This is a very unique story and I feel that I'm very lucky to be a part of this film."

"When Srijit was making this film in Bengali, he wanted to work on the Hindi version side by side. In the Bengali flick, Rituparna Sengupta played the lead and in the Hindi one, he wanted me in the role. But since I was unwell at that time, I had to refuse the offer," she added.

"After the Bengali movie got released, everybody loved it. When Mahesh Bhatt saw it, he decided at that very moment that he would make the same movie in Hindi and he again came back to me. So, I feel myself to be very lucky, as stories like these are not written and said every day. You must have seen the trailer, everybody is loving the trailer," the 'The Dirty Picture' star continued.

Talking about its plot, the 'Kahaani' star said, "Whenever we talk about the partition, we always talk about the families, businesses and their sufferings, but nobody talks about women, let alone prostitutes, and their problems. But Srijit wrote a story tracing partition through the eyes of prostitutes."

"This is a story of women, who are trying to save their property and can go to any extent for that, but the highlight is that the story is set on the backdrop of partition," she noted.

Kohl-rimmed fierce-looking eyes, hair let loose and a devil-may-care attitude, Vidya's look is intense for the Hindi adaptation of National Award-winner Mukherji's critically acclaimed Bengali outing 'Rajkahini.'

Recently, a new menacing dialogue trailer was recently released on Twitter by producer Mahesh Bhatt.

The film, featuring Gauahar Khan, Ila Arun, Pallavi Sharda, Naseeruddin Shah and Chunky Pandey, is set to hit the theatres on April 14, 2017.