New film on Swami Vivekananda`s life in making

Mumbai: A film titled `The Light- Vivekananda`, which portrays the transition from a young Vivekananda to one of the greatest preachers of all time, will be presented on the silver screen by director Tutu Das.

The historic Town Hall in the city was transformed to look like the Art Institute of Chicago, where Vivekananda delivered his famous speech in 1893, as part of shooting for the film. Das says it will be shot in Bengali and Hindi but producers are planning to dub it in 18 other languages. "I have tried to recapture the event-filled life of Swami Vivekananda, starting from when he was a little boy called `Bile`, to Narendranath Dutta in his youth when he undertook visits to northern India to his last days," Das told reporters on the set at Town Hall. Das says he had been nursing the idea to make the film for the past three years. "Vivekananda`s visit to Ramesharam and from there to Kanyakumari, where he sat on a rock and reflected on the state of affairs in the country, will all be there in the movie, though the present-day Vivekananda Rock in Kanyakumari does not resemble the original rock," the director said. "So, we had to scout for another spot nearby and zeroed in on a desolate, unexplored place where a identical rock exists amid waves," he added. Swami Vivekananda`s role is played by Deep Bhattacharya who acts on stage under theatre group `Sambed` while Gargi Roy Choudhury will play mother Sarada. "I am mighty happy to portray one of the most liberated women of all times," Gargi said. Premankur Chattopadhyay will play Ramakrishna and Sister Nivedita by California-based actor Courtney Stephens Brook There are eight songs in the film including Vivekananda`s favourite `Mono Cholo Nijo Niketone`. PTI