‘Ban my film later’

When I decided to make a biopic on Sonia Gandhi, about facts and moments that nobody knows of, I got a legal notice from the Congress party objecting to me not having taken permission from her.
I replied that I had bought the rights of her biography by Rasheed Kidwai. And whatever research I���ve done is from published material as well, all verifiable.She can sue me if I���m factually wrong, but if I make a film on a public figure which is factually correct, then it���s not wrong,��� explains the filmmaker. ���I told them, ���Let me make the film; if you don���t like it, ban it,������ says director Jagmohan Mundhra.
The director of critically acclaimed films like Provoked and Bawandar has selected Italian actress Monica Belucci for the lead. The filmmaker says he���s eagerly awaiting a go-ahead from Sonia Gandhi, who���d asked him to contact her after the 2009 general elections.
Mundhra had even gone to meet Sonia to talk to her about the film. ���When I met Mrs Gandhi, I told her I was fascinated by the fact that an Italian girl who���d gone to Cambridge to learn English didn���t even know that one day, she���d be a leader in a completely different country.���
Mundhra explains that when Sonia met Rajiv Gandhi at a varsity restaurant ��� which was to change the history of India ��� it is that moment that he wants to capture. He also says he���ll contact the Congress president again regarding the film.
Talking about his forthcoming film, Chase, a thriller which is a little hatke from his previous issue-based movies, Mundhra says, ���I���m a storyteller first. My job is to be able to tell a story in a way that connects to my audiences. I made Bawandar and Provoked because they had an important story to tell, but I don���t like being pigeonholed in my craft.���
Starring Udita Goswami, newcomer Tarina and Anuj Saxena of Kumkum fame, the film is about a man who���s punished for a crime he didn���t commit, and his struggle to prove his innocence. Why did he decide to shoot an action-thriller in Kashmir, a place which has been the backdrop of some of the biggest romantic classics of Bollywood? ���The film has a romantic song and the lyrics talk about things that can only be found in Kashmir. The picturisation could only have been done in the idyllic beauty of the Dal Lake,��� he says.
He adds, ���Also, I wanted to show the beauty of Kashmir to the present generation, which has grown up watching Switzerland in every other Bollywood film. They have forgotten the legendary beauty of this place, which was captured so beautifully in the films that I have grown up watching.���
(With inputs from IANS and PTI)