Priyanka Chopra praises Ishqiya

Actress Priyanka Chopra praises " Ishqiya" and congratulates filmmaker-composer-singer Vishal Bhardwaj and his wife Rekha for winning national awards for the movie .

The rural drama was the directorial debut of Abhishek Chaubey and Bhardwaj produced it and even composed music for the movie that saw Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi and Vidya Balan in the lead roles.

At the 58th National Awards, announced in the capital Thursday, Rekha was named the best female playback singer for the song "Badi dheere" from "Ishqiya" and Bhardwaj won the best music director award for the same.

"I am very proud of Vishalji and Rekha ma'am. 'Ishqiya' was a brilliant film. So congratulations to them," said Priyanka.

It's Rekha's first national award, while for Bhardwaj it's the fourth time.

Priyanka worked with Bhardwaj in "Kaminey" and "7 Khoon Maaf".

"I have worked with them in two films and I had a good fortune of working with them. Vishal sir is very talented as a music director and as a director and as a singer," said Priyanka.

Ishqiya 2 announced

After the super success of Ishqiya, there have been speculations over a sequel from some time. However this proposed project had failed to take off despite the success of Ishqiya, for which its lead actress Vidya Balan won several awards.

However everything seems to be on track now ands last night at a party the producers of the film, Shemaroo and Vishal Bhardwaj, announced the sequel with the same cast and crew.


Our source said, "Ishqiya was a huge hit and was also critically acclaimed. The producers were very happy and were keen to make a sequel. However the film did not take off for a long time. Everything seems to be on track now and last night the film was announced at a private party at the producer Shemaroo's office.

Arshad and Vidya were present when the film was announced, while Vishal, his wife Rekha, and Abhishek Chaubey were also present. Abhishek has an idea and the script is currently under finalisation. The film will go on the floors in the middle of this year.

The last draft is being written and maybe one or two people might be added. Vidya and Arshad are equally thrilled to do the sequel."

Our source said, "Abhishek was being offered to direct a film from several production houses. He too was in talks and there was a strong buzz that he was going to make a film with John Abraham. But it seems nothing did materialise.

Abhishek took a long break to decide his next film script and what he wanted to direct. Finally after this break, he has decided to direct his debut movie Ishqiya's sequel."

When contacted, Ketan Maroo, the producer of the film, confirmed the news and said, "Yes, we have announced the film. However, I will be in a better position to give you details in a few days."