Mumbai, Oct 27: The life, work and sensational killing of Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines would now be captured on celluloid, with renowned director Sunil Agnihotri all set to begin shooting the film 'Murder of a Missionary' in February. "We will be shooting the film from February. Right now the script of the film written by S Ramchandran is ready. However, I am waiting for Staines' wife to go through the script and provide her own inputs," Sunil said here today.
"The character of Staines and his family would be enacted by foreign actors but for the character of Dara Singh, we are considering Indian actor Irfan Khan," he added. "The film is an independent piece of work and would not be stuck on the controversy of the murder angle. It would rather explore the life of the missionary, who travelled the seven seas to come to India and be among lepers, something which no Indian would usually be ready to do, be it a Hindu or Muslim. Staines, like Mother Teresa, devoted his life to those rejected by society," he added. "I was inspired about making the film on the day of his killing. But was waiting for the court order to incorporate it into the story. We have based our story on media reports but we will also ask Staines' wife to provide insights," he said.
The over two-hour film, to be shot in both English and Hindi, is slated to be released next October in India and later in Australia.
Staines and his two minor sons were burnt alive by a frenzied mob. The mastermind behind the carnage, Dara Singh, was awarded death sentence on September 22 while 12 others sentenced to life imprisonment. Bureau Report