Sujoy Ghosh, torn between sequel & remakes...Kahaani sequel may stall Aditya Chopra's plans

Sujoy Ghosh is the man of the watch. His movie Kahaani created waves in the market and many filmmakers want to remake the flick in diverse languages. While Tamil,T elugu and even English versions of the year’s sleeper blockbuster are on the anvil, we hear the sequel to Kahaani is now a throbbing reality. Secretly unknown to the world, Ghosh has been feverishly penning the sequel. And now just when the English, Tamil, Telugu versions of Kahaani are in the pipeline, producers Viacom 18 and Ghosh are all set to start the sequel. And they want to waste no time in carrying the franchise forward. In fact, after Viacom 18 heard of proposed projects in three languages of Kahaani they immediately got in touch with film’s co-producer, Jayanthilal Gada, to discuss how the remakes would affect the sequel. “Only after Viacom and Gada were convinced that the sequel would in no way be affected by the remakes did the process of selling remake rights go forward. Viacom was very clear on the issue. The sequel should not and must not be affected by the remakes,” says a source very close to the project. However a tug ‘of’ war between the remakes and the sequel is currently on. Says a source close to the project, “Sujoy who is close to Aditya Chopra and Yashraj Films has been asked to be closely associated with the English-language version of Kahaani. But with Sujoy completely committed to Kahaani 2 and consumed in writing it, his chances of participating in any of the Kahaani remakes is very slim. Viacom 18 is very clear on the issue. They want the sequel to not get affected by the remakes. Sujoy is busy writing the sequel and has cracked an idea.” While details on Kahaani 2 are awaited two components have been locked in by Viacom 18: Vidya Balan and Sujoy Ghosh. The script we understand, will move out of Kolkata and take Vidya’s character to a completely new setting. While further details are awaited Vikram Malhotra of Viacom 18 admitted, “We are going ahead with the sequel to Kahaani. That’s all I can reveal at the moment.”