Vikas Bahl’s Goodbye, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rashmika Mandanna, might have received a lukewarm response at the box office, but that hasn’t much affected him personally as he is soon set to take audiences on an action-packed ride with his next, Ganapath. The director has finished shooting this Pooja Entertainment film and is currently giving the finishing touches to the post-production work. The Tiger Shroff and Kriti Sanon-starrer dystopian thriller is said to be a visual extravaganza with world-class action and special effects and will release in theatres in the first half of 2023. With Ganapath Part 1 ready for release, the director has now started prepping for his next—a Hindi remake of the 2014 French-Belgian film, La Famille Bélier. And now, we hear he has already finalized the lead for the film.
Peepingmoon.com has exclusively learned that Salman Khan’s niece, Alizeh Agnihotri, will headline Vikas Bahl’s La Famille Bélier remake. The film is a coming-of-age comedy-drama and will see Alizeh playing the role of a sixteen-year-old hearing teen in a deaf family, a role originally essayed by Louane Emera in the Éric Lartigau-directed film. "Vikas Bahl has finished scripting and will start shooting for it in the first quarter of next year. This is a film Vikas has been planning to adapt for Indian audiences for the last six years, and it’s finally seeing the light of day in 2023. The director has made some appropriate changes to the story and setting so that it resonates with Indian sensibilities and culture. Alizeh’s father, Atul Agnihotri, is producing it with Reliance Entertainment," an industry source informed us.
La Famille Bélier is a critically acclaimed film about love and compassion for one’s family. It tells the story of a girl who lives with her parents and brothers, each of whom is unable to hear or speak, and discovers that she has the gift of singing, which she wants to pursue. The heartwarming, salty story touches upon the obstacles the girl faces in her journey when the news doesn't go well with her family, which relies on her to contact the outside world. It was a highly acclaimed film and was later remade in English as CODA, which won three Academy Awards last year. Vikas Bahl hopes to revive the magic with his version, keeping the original’s essence intact.
The Vikas Bahl directorial will be Alizeh Agnihotri’s second acting gig after her upcoming debut film with Jamtara Sabka Number Aayega director Soumendra Padhi. She is currently shooting for this yet-untitled unconventional thriller, and only after finishing it off will she head to Vikas Bahl’s film. The casting for other pivotal characters in Bahl’s film will also kick off soon. Stay tuned to Peepingmoon for an update on the remaining cast of this film.