Priyanka Chopra Jonaswill make a return to Hindi films withJee Le Zaraa(which roughly translates to “Let’s live a little”), a new road movie co-starringAlia BhattandKatrina Kaif.Jee Le Zaraawill also serve as a comeback for filmmaker-actorFarhan Akhtar, who hasn’t directed a film since 2011’sDon 2.
Akhtar andRitesh Sidhwaniwill co-produceJee Le Zaraaunder their Excel Entertainment banner with his sisterZoya Akhtar’s Tiger Baby Films. He will also co-write the script with Zoya and her longtime creative collaboratorReema Kagti.
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The film sounds like a spiritual sequel to the 2011 hitZindagi Na Milegi Dobara, about three childhood friends who reunite for a bachelor party/road trip across Spain, directed by Zoya and co-starring Farhan and Kaif withHrithik Roshan,Abhay Deol, andKalki Koechlin. Films with female protagonists are rare in Bollywood, which is, of course, a narrow term that refers only to the mainstream Hindi film industry. A film featuring a trio of (A-list) female leads is even more unusual.
Chopra Jonas wrotein an Instagram postthat the film is dedicated to “sisterhood” and narrated the story of how it came into being:
“Katrina, Alia, and I enthusiastically met in February 2020 (as seen in this picture), just before the world shut down, to discuss who we could trust to bring this vision to life for us and our choice was unanimous… Farhan and Ritesh, Zoya and Reema. We had all worked with Excel and Tiger Baby Films individually so this seemed perfect. It just so happened that Farhan was working on a female road trip movie at the same time! Talk about all the stars aligning! And here we are today… Jee Le Zaraa… it only took 3 years to align all our schedules but we stuck together and got it done!”
Chopra Jonas’ last Hindi movie was 2019’sThe Sky is Pink, directed byShonali Boseand co-starring Farhan. She’s spent the past few years making inroads into Hollywood, having debuted in the now-canceled ABC seriesQuantico. She followed it up with a villain role in the ill-fatedBaywatchmovie, starringDwayne JohnsonandZac Efron, and appeared in a handful of supporting roles leading up to two back-to-back Netflix releases —Robert Rodriguez’sWe Can Be HeroesandRamin Bahrani’s Oscar-nominatedThe White Tiger, which she also executive produced.
She signed a multimillion-dollar first-look deal with Amazon Prime Video in 2020 and is currently filming the streamer’s ambitious spy seriesCitadel, executive produced byAvengers: EndgamedirectorsJoeandAnthony Russo.
Jee Le Zaraais tentatively slated for a 2023 release, and in the meantime, you can check out the announcement video that Excel and Tiger Baby have shared below:
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