First it was Shekhar Kapur. Now it’s Shyam Benegal trying to make a film on Gautam Buddha. It’s being jointly helmed by Light of Asia Foundation and Beyond Dreams Entertainment. “We are about to tell the story of a man who was born in the Indian subcontinent and redefined the way the world thinks,” said Beyond Dreams CEO Yash Patnaik.
The multi-crore project will be scripted by Atul Tiwari, who has written films like Bose: The Forgotten Hero and Mission Kashmir. Professor Nimal D’Silva, leading Buddhist scholar, will head a research team comprising scholars from China, Japan and Korea.
Benegal, who just received the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, was slated to make Chamki Chameli, an adaptation of the famous musical Carmen, but it will be the film on Buddha that will roll first. The producers have already acquired over 1,000 acres of land near Colombo where a massive set will be built to recreate the era for the filming of the epic. The film is expected to go on the floors in mid-2008.

Snakes and the men

Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Riteish and Jaaved Jafferi had a close encounter of a scary kind — with snakes. While shooting at Film City, Mumbai, the stars of Dhamaal lived up to the title of the film and had a whole lot of dhamaal on the sets. But all the fun nearly came undone.
Director Indra Kumar still gets goosebumps recalling the incident. “It was a three-day shoot for a rope scene which required all the four stars. But after reaching the place we realised that there were snakes galore at the location. One would pop up from one hole; another would slide into another hole. It was damn scary. The stars got so scared; they refused to shoot the scene.”
Eventually, the four bravehearts decided to give it a go. “By the time we finished shooting, the snakes had got accustomed to us and we had got accustomed to the snakes,” concluded Indra Kumar.