Vidya Balan Goes South With Jailer 2

Vidya Balan joins the cast of Rajinikanth's Jailer 2, which opened on Oct. 15, as a character called Kantha. In an interview with Times Now she called sharing the screen with Rajinikanth an honour. She is also due in Anees Bazmee's untitled comedy with Akshay Kumar. Here is what the record shows.

Playing Kantha

Times Now reported on Oct. 14 that Balan spoke exclusively to Zoom ahead of the release. She said she had watched the first Jailer and loved it, and that "Kanta is such an interesting character, and Nelson thought of me for this role. Sharing screen space with Rajini sir, what an honour." The publication spells the name Kanta in its text and Kantha in other places, and we use Kantha, the spelling in other coverage.

Balan described the character as someone who loves her family and "can go to any extent to protect them." She said, "Everyone in the Jailer universe contributes their own special tadka, but the dish is always Rajinikanth."

The film

Jailer 2 is written and directed by Nelson Dilipkumar and produced by Kalanithi Maran's Sun Pictures. Times Now says it was cleared U/A 16+ by the CBFC, with a reported runtime of about two hours and 45 minutes. It brings back Ramya Krishnan, Yogi Babu and Mirnaa from the first film, and adds SJ Suryah, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Mithun Chakraborty, Anna Rajan and Jatin Sarna. Mohanlal and Shiva Rajkumar make special appearances, and Telegraph India reports that Hrithik Roshan also has a cameo.

On the box office, Sacnilk's weekend table counted Jailer 2 at Rs 144.05 crore net in India after three days, and India TV reports a worldwide gross of Rs 321 crore by its third day, citing the same tracker. Those are tracker estimates and not studio-confirmed figures.

Back to Hindi comedy

The Hindu reported in May that Balan and Akshay Kumar are in Anees Bazmee's untitled comedy-drama, announced for release on Dec. 4. It also stars Raashii Khanna, Vijay Raaz and Sudesh Lehri and is produced by Shirish Reddy and Kuldeep Rathore with Cape of Good Films. Balan and Bazmee worked together earlier on Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, The Hindu notes. The Times of India reported on Oct. 16 that Akshay is shooting a song for the film in Dehradun, citing Mid-Day, and that Balan is likely to feature in it, though her participation is not confirmed by the makers.

Why it matters

A role beside Rajinikanth places Balan in a film that has opened strongly, according to tracker figures. That is our reading of the numbers. The coverage does not report reviews of her performance.

What we could not confirm

We could not confirm how Balan's performance has been received, because the coverage we read focuses on Rajinikanth and Hrithik Roshan's cameo. We could not confirm whether the Dec. 4 date for the Bazmee comedy still stands, as it was announced in May and no newer confirmation appeared in our sources. We could not confirm Balan's participation in the Dehradun song. Box-office figures are tracker estimates and may be revised. We did not watch the film.

Sources

*Cover photo: Bollywood Hungama, Wikimedia Commons, *[*https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vidya_Balan_at_Dadasaheb_Phalke_Awards.jpg*](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vidya_Balan_at_Dadasaheb_Phalke_Awards.jpg)* (CC BY 3.0).*