Sujoy Ghosh was going to direct the film in 2014 under the title "Durga Rani Singh". At the time, he had signed Irrfan Khan and Vidya Balan. Vidya then opted out and Kangana Ranaut was brought in to replace her. Yet, due to delays both Irrfan and Kangana left the film. That's when the director decided to retitle the film as Kahaani 2 and bring back Vidya Balan.
The films is not a direct sequel to Kahaani (2012), however both are in the thriller genre, and feature the same director, writing team, and lead actress.
Being inspired by Satyajit Ray's Feluda detective series, Sujoy wanted to continue the story of Vidya Bagchi but while trying to film 2014, creative differences begun to pop up and the movie was stalled.
After two years of stalling, the movie was made and re-titled as 'Kahaani 2' having Arjun Rampal and Vidya Balan in the lead roles.
Jugal Hansraj first major negative role.