'Bell Bottom' director says casting Lara as Mrs Gandhi was Akshay's idea

Mumbai, Aug 17 From the time the trailer of the Akshay Kumar-starrer 'Bell Bottom' was out, the transformation of Lara Dutta as Indira Gandhi has become a talking point.

In an interview with , the film's director Ranjit M. Tewari shared why, despite Lara's facial features not being similar to those of the late former prime minister, she was selected for the part. The transformation, he said, was a reflection of the progress the science of prosthetics had made over the years.

"This was one of the important casting decisions for my film," Tewari said. "If we look at Lara in real life, she carries herself with a lot of dignity and has a very strong personality. Initially, the idea of casting Lara came from Akshay sir, so the credit goes to him. Then I was wondering how to make her look like Mrs Gandhi. She does not look like her in any way.

"I had two options: either we make Lara look exactly like Mrs Gandhi, or create a similar look, keeping the essence of the 'Mrs Gandhi look'. Then I sat with

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