Confirmed: Priyanka Chopra Jonas set to co-produce and star in Ma Anand Sheela biopic

Last seen in Bollywood film The Sky Is Pink (2019), Priyanka Chopra Jonas has added yet another exciting project to her repertoire. After months of speculations, it has finally been confirmed that the Quantic star will topline Amazon Studios’ biopic on Ma Anand Sheela, a spiritual adviser and former spokeswoman of the Rajneesh movement and also the primary perpetrator of the 1984 Rajneesh bioterror attack in Wasco County, Oregon.

Titled Sheela, the forthcoming project will be written by Nick Yarborough, while Barry Levinson has come onboard to call the shots. Apart from playing the titular role, Chopra will also co-produce the biopic along with Levinson’s Baltimore Pictures. Other producers on the project include Jason Sosnoff and David Permut of Permut Presentations.

Sheela was officially announced last year by Priyanka Chopra Jonas, but soon after the announcement, the movie found itself in hot water when Ma Anand Sheela sent the former Miss World a legal notice for attempting to make a film on her life without taking her permission.

Interestingly, Amazon Studios’ Sheela is not the only biopic on Ma Anand Sheela in the works. According to reports, acclaimed Bollywood producer Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment and streaming media giant Netflix have also joined forces to produce a documentary on Sheela, which will be directed by Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya with Shakun Batra as the showrunner and executive producer. An official announcement is awaited though.

Meanwhile, Priyanka Chopra Jonas is currently doing a mysterious role in the much-awaited Hollywood film The Matrix 4. She also stars in the lead role in writer-director Robert Rodriguez's superhero movie for Netflix called We Can Be Heroes. Filming of the movie is taking place in Texas. The actress also headlined an adaptation of Aravind Adiga's satirical novel The White Tiger for Netflix.