Will Amitabh Bachchan and Katrina Kaif make a good pair in ‘Mehrunissa

Will Amitabh Bachchan and Katrina Kaif make a good pair in 'Mehrunissa'?

There is a strong buzz that Kat has almost bagged the title role in the prestigious project. Will she be convincing as Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor's love interest? We wonder…

There has been a lot of speculation about Mehrunissa ever since Sudhir Mishra announced his ambitious project. The names that came up for the title role included Chitrangda Singh, Katrina Kaif and Vidya Balan.

Sudhir, co-producer Nikhil Advani and representatives of producer DAR Motion Pictures chose to stay tightlipped, but now we hear that Katrina has been finalised for the role. Apparently, since Dhoom 3 has been postponed yet again, Katrina has several free dates in her diary – the same dates could work very well for Mehrunissa. She is almost done shooting for Ek Tha Tiger and is currently busy with Yash Chopra's still untitled project (no, it's not London Ishq and thank God for that!) while Dostana 2 is still in pre-production stage. Kat is quite keen to do Mehrunissa, but the question is: will she be able to?

Mehrunissa, as you probably already know, is the story of a female actor in the 1970s. It traces her journey from the age of 20 to the present when she is 62. Sudhir had wanted to model the younger Mehrunissa on yesteryear actor Waheeda Rehman. Mehrunissa will have two suitors – to be played by Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor. Now we know Kat can play the ingénue with alacrity: she has done it in Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani and to some extent in Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya. But can she play the sedate older woman? It requires a lot of skill to essay the role of a mature senior citizen and Kat's acting skills leave a lot to be desired. Also, we just can't imagine Kat and her accent fitting into the scenario of 1970s Bollywood. Deepika Padukone managed to do it in Om Shanti Om, but we seriously doubt if Kat can pull it off.

Then there's the other factor. Katrina will be paired opposite two actors who have actually lived through the 1970s and ruled the box office then. Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor have agreed to play heroes to Kat. While we have no doubt that the veterans can make us believe in their love for Mehrunissa, we can't say the same about Kat. Can she convince us that she is capable of romancing older and experienced actor like Rishi and Big B? At this time it's impossible to imagine that she could!

And don't forget, the credit or discredit for Kat's performance ultimately goes to Sudhir. It's public knowledge that Sudhir fought hard with the then-Mehrunissa producers UTV Motion Pictures to not cast Katrina. When his first choice Chitrangda opted out, he took the project to Vidya, but refused to cast Katrina. He was supported in this by co-producer Nikhil Advani. Now Nikhil has flown all the way to London where Kat is shooting just to narrate the script to her. He has agreed to wait till she returns to Mumbai to finalise the details. Will that be enough for her to overlook the initial opposition? Or will this cause friction on the sets, hindering her performance?

We just hope that in the end Mehrunissa will be worth all the trouble it has taken Sudhir to get his ambitious project off the ground.