Kalpana Lajmi chooses Deepika over Aishwarya

There is no questioning about the talent of the ace filmmaker Kalpana Lajmi. Now, it is so that Lajmi had written a script based on political drama. The film titled “Singhasan” was written by Lajmi with Aishwarya Rai in mind. But now, it seems that the maker has changed her mind and wants to make it with Deepika Padukone instead, who happens to be a distant relative of hers.

Explaining her relationship with Deepika, she said: “We’re both descendents of the great Guru Dutt. Deepika and I are Saraswat Brahmins. Her family and mine can be traced back to Kashmir. We’re basically evicted Kashmiri pundits who migrated to Bangalore.

If you remember my uncle Guru Dutt (her artist mother Lalita Lajmi’s brother) was settled in Bangalore and so is Deepika’s father Prakash Padukone. Deepika is definitely related to me, though she doesn’t know it. But I hope she knows about me,” Lajmi said.

Reasoning out Deepika as her choice, she said, “I saw her in ‘Om Shanti Om’ and ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ and found her to possess that old world grace that comes naturally to Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai. I don’t think any other girl today has that quality. I was once planning to cast Aishwarya as a politician in ‘Singhasan’. I’d love to cast Deepika in that role.”

“Maybe she can get R.K. Films to produce it,” she joked.

However, Kalpana has doubts whether Deepika would agree to her offer. “Why should she? I’m a down-and-out filmmaker. I haven’t put a project together in the last three years because of various reasons, the main being finances. A filmmaker like me suffers a double disadvantage by being a woman,” said Lajmi, who has made films like “Chingaari” and “Daman”.