The Hindu : New Delhi News : Benegal’s new venture

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 01, 2008
ePaper

New Delhi

New Delhi

Benegal’s new venture

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: Noted filmmaker Shyam Benegal is busy these days making a historic film based on the life of Gautam Buddha.

Benegal, who has never wavered from his commitment to making thought-provoking films, is planning to rope in Bollywood heart-throb Hrithik Roshan. The actor perfectly fits the bill to play the Buddha, he says. The big budget film will be produced by Beyond Dreams Entertainment Limited’s CEO Yash Patnaik and Light of Asia Foundation chairman Navin Gooneratne.

Describing the film project as a historic moment for South Asian cinema, Yash Patnaik says: “We are about to tell the story of the Buddha who was born on the sub-continent and re-defined the way the world thinks. The impact of the Buddha’s philosophy can be measured by the fact that hundreds of millions of people across the globe have embraced it and made it a way of life. The Buddha’s philosophy is more contemporary today than ever before.” After working on the project for almost eight months, Beyond Dreams Entertainment Limited and Light of Asia Foundation have built a massive multi-million film project.

Noted screenplay writer Atul Tiwari, who has written landmark movies like “Bose: The Forgotten Hero” has been approached to write the story, screenplay and dialogue of this epic, while leading Buddhist scholar in the South Asia region Nimal D’Silva has been appointed to head the research team along with scholars from China, Japan and Korea.

International filmmaker Chandran Rutnam, who has been associated with some of the biggest ever movies made in Hollywood in the past four decades from “Indiana Jones” to “Tarzan”, is ecstatic about the project. “I have worked with many Hollywood greats from Capola to Spielberg, but this project is the closest to my heart. A film on the philosophy of the Buddha’s teachings in these days of turmoil could be an excellent vehicle to spread the Buddhist philosophy throughout the world.”

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi