New Delhi: It’s been 19 years since Saif Ali Khan and Vidya Balan last shared the screen. Now, the two are reuniting for Long Years Ago, directed by Ritesh Batra. French actor Mélanie Laurent, best known for Inglourious Basterds, is also joining the film, the shooting for which has begun in Mumbai.
Deadline reported Monday that the family comedy-drama is set in 1991 and follows “a family that has gone too long without saying the things that matter.”
The story will explore what happens when its members are finally forced to express feelings they have kept to themselves.
Vidya Balan reunites with Saif Ali Khan
Khan and Balan first worked together in Parineeta (2005), which also marked Balan’s Hindi film debut. They later appeared together in Eklavya: The Royal Guard (2007).
“What makes this even more special is that I get to reunite with Saif after Parineeta, my very first film!” Balan said.
Meanwhile, this is the first time that Balan will be working with Batra.
“I’ve been a huge admirer of his work ever since The Lunchbox, and have been hoping to collaborate with him for the longest time,” she told Deadline.
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Mélanie Laurent makes Hindi film debut
Laurent and Batra have known each other for 15 years, but Long Years Ago marks their first film together.
“I met Ritesh fifteen years ago at the Marrakech Film Festival, and we shared this dream to meet in Mumbai one day. I immediately loved this new project, and I am more than honored and happy to be a part of it,” Laurent said.
The film will also mark Laurent’s Hindi film debut. Her previous credits include Now You See Me (2013) and 6 Underground (2019).
Ritesh Batra’s upcoming projects
Batra made his directorial debut with The Lunchbox (2013), starring Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur.
He later directed Our Souls at Night (2017), starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, and Photograph (2019), featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sanya Malhotra.
He has also directed episodes of the upcoming Netflix series Unaccustomed Earth, an adaptation of novelist Jhumpa Lahiri’s book of the same name.
Long Years Ago is being produced by Batra and Adeel Ahmed’s Poetic License, along with Jio Studios and Good Chaos. A release date has not yet been announced.
(Edited by Maryam Hassan)