Monica to play Sonia
RANDOR GUY
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In a film on Sonia Gandhi's life, Monica Bellucci has been chosen to play the leader.
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FROM LAW STUDENT TO ACTOR: Monica Bellucci
At last the suspense is over! There was speculation about who will play Sonia Gandhi in the movie based on her life, for which the shooting will start later this year. The list included Aishwarya Rai and Preity Zinta. And now the news is out that it will be Italian star Monica Bellucci.
During the recent Cannes Film Festival (Monica Bellucci was a member of the jury), Sunanda Murali Manohar, producer, had handed over the screenplay to the Italian actor.
The movie will be directed by the well-known American-Indian filmmaker Jag Mohan Mundhra (`Monsoon ..,' `Perfumed Garden,' `Bhawandar' and `Provoked'). Mundhra had insisted that only an Italian actor should play Sonia Gandhi to ensure credibility. After much discussion, Monica Bellucci came on board.
A talented and also controversial actor who never hesitates to speak her mind, Monica became famous when she played Mary Magdalene in the Mel Gibson hit, `The Passion of the Christ' (2003).
She came into prominence earlier with her debut in `Bram Stoker's Dracula' (1992). However, stardom came to her with the successful French thriller, `Appartement, L ' (1996, a sensation at the Sundance Film Festival, it revealed the influence and impact of Alfred Hitchcock, especially his `Rear Window' and `Vertigo')
Mesmerising filmgoers
In the film, Monica plays the female lead with whom the hero (Vincent Cassel) falls in love though he is engaged to another girl. The romance in an apartment seen voyeuristically through a window mesmerised movie buffs.
During the making of the movie, Monica and Vincent fell in love and married soon after. They have a daughter, named Deva (yes, it is Sanskrit).
Monica was born in 1964 in Italy. At first she studied law to join the legal profession. To bankroll her legal studies she took to modelling which soon became her career.
She took her bow as an actor on TV in 1990, which took her to `Bram Stoker's Dracula.' Then came `Appartement, L,' for which she won the French equivalent of an Oscar nomination.
Another movie, which brought her success, is `Malèna' (2000). In it, Monica is an attractive young war widow in Sicily during the early 1940s to whom a 13-year-old boy feels drawn. When the news of her husband's death in the war reaches the village, peace deserts her. All the village men feel that she is now easy game and begin to chase her.
`Irreversible' (2003) is another controversial movie in which she is paired with Vincent Cassel. In it, Monica leaves a party after an argument with her boyfriend and on her way home is gang-raped in a dark tunnel. Then begins the gory game as her boyfriend seeks revenge against the culprits.
Monica, who headed the `Most Desirable Woman' list, is very fluent in English, French, and Italian and still retains an interest in Jurisprudence, which was her first love before she morphed into a world famous model, and then actor. She says her sources of inspiration are Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale.
Playing Sonia Gandhi, a fellow Italian and a woman of international stature, is a challenge for Monica and she is quite excited about it.
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