Australian filmmaker to make movie on honour killing

Mumbai: After Bollywood explored the theme in films like `Aakrosh` and `Love, Sex aur Dhoka`, Australian filmmaker Bill Bennett is all set to explore the issue of honour killings in India.

"I am doing a film on honour killings and will show its complexities. The film will be based in India. It will be a thriller with a love story in the backdrop. I feel it is a kind of Shakespearian tragedy with a couple who are ready to die for love," Bennett told reporters in an interview. About the plot of the film, the 58-year-old director said, "A woman comes from United Nations to India as an aid worker. She gets involved in this story. The couple would be Indian." Bennett, known for making films like `Kiss or Kill` `Two If By Sea`, was inspired to do the film after reading media reports. "I remember four years back I had read an article in a newspaper about the killings. It was shocking. I thought it would make a fantastic film for western and Indian audience. So then I started doing research," he said. Produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, the film will be set and shot in India with an Australian and Indian star cast. "There will be both Australian and Indian actors. We will begin shooting from September-October this year and are planning to release by the same time next year," the Bennett said. "Early this year we did our research and went to Haryana and Punjab to find out more about the subject in detail. We met a lot of people involved in honour killings. We are meeting family members and human rights activists to get first hand information about the incidents. The film needs to be authentic, real and dramatic," Bennett said. On the star-cast, he said, "We haven`t finalised any actors as yet. The scripting process is still on. I don`t want the script to be influenced by the cast. I haven`t met any Bollywood stars in this regard. "Until we lock on the script I really cannot understand about the characters and so I can`t really say about the cast. Casting is an important decision. Lot of good films are ruined by bad casting due to wrong reasons because they are big stars and that they will bring money," he said. Anupam Sharma, an Indian producer based in Australia and Indian advisor Shahnaab Alam will co-produce the film that will be primarily released in English. PTI