These two filmmakers are battling it out for the Kalpana Chawla biopic

We had reported earlier that Priyanka Chopra , out of the three films that she has reportedly signed, one of them will be the story of Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian woman who made it to the moon but unfortunately never made it back.

The project was to be helmed by directorial debutante Priya Mishra, who claims to have the rights to the film since the past 7 years. Flashback to 2015, a report had stated that Viacom 18 has been working on a film based on the life of the first Indian woman who made it to space.

But, she is not alone who claims to have the rights to the story.

Somewhere in an another part of the city, Meenu Arora, founder and CEO of Cloud 9 Pictures Pvt. Ltd. Gave a confirmation to a daily that she along with her business partner, Savita Hiremath(the one who produced Khosla Ka Ghosla) have signed an agreement with Kalpana’s father, BL Chawla, for the rights of making a film on the life of his daughter.

In a telephonic conversation with a leading daily, Mr. Chawla said and we quote “I have not known Savita for a very long time but since I got to know that she has made the film Khosla ka Ghosla, I was impressed. I think they will be able to do justice to the film. My blessings are with them.”

On top of that, the duo claims to have rights to the Penguin book Kalpana Chawla: A Life for being turned into a film. The duo is as of now in talks with the directors but there is no confirmation as to who will be directing the film.

Here’s an official statement from one of the producers:

“Our film is adapted from the Penguin book ‘Kalpana Chawla-A Life’ by Anil Padmanabhan and tells the remarkable story of the journey of a little girl from Karnal who wished to reach for the stars and achieved it. Along the way she was supported by her father who against social pressure and internal conflict stood by her while she achieved her goal. The film is a tribute to fathers like BL Chawla who despite their milieu have the courage and will to support their daughters so they can pursue their dreams and achieve them. Mr Chawla took some convincing but eventually, he came around to support us in making this film a possibility. The family has shared so many anecdotes from her life which makes our story even more special. I hope we can do justice to their exceptional lives.”

Savita Hiremath, Producer

On the other hand, here’s what Priya Mishra have to say about her acquiring the rights to the film:

“I have the rights since the past seven years now. I first met her dad, uncle BL Chawla in 2010 in Karnal and since then I have been meeting them. Last month also I met them. I met uncle in 2010 and then I met aunty and then the sisters. He didn’t sign the agreement immediately. I built a relationship over I think a year and then he signed. I keep meeting him. I still meet him, I was in Delhi last month also to meet him. He has been keeping unwell and now he went to Karnal to inaugurate the Kalpana Chawla University last week. So I kind of stay in touch.” 

Priya Mishra, Filmmaker

 With the exponentially growing demand for real life stories due to the positive response that they are getting, they are the newest things to kill for in B-Town.

It will surely be interesting to see as to who will be the ultimate victor of this war over the Kalpana Chawla script!