London
(ANI):
Indian
film
industry,
the
Bollywood,
is
teaming
up
with
Hollywood
on
a
major
two-part
epic
on
the
scale
of
Lord
Attenborough's
Gandhi
telling
the
life
story
of
Indira
Gandhi.
Boasting
a
budget
of
40
million
pounds,
the
biopic
of
the
former
prime
minister
of
India,
who
was
assassinated
in
1984,
has
an
international
cast
and
crew.
The
Queen
of
Bollywood,
Madhuri
Dixit,
has
been
roped
in
to
play
the
title
role
in
Mother:
The
Indira
Gandhi
Story.
The
producers
are
in
talks
with
Helen
Mirren
to
reprise
her
role
as
Queen
Elizabeth
II
for
the
two
films
which
are
due
to
start
filming
in
April
next
year
in
India,
UK,
Russia
and
the
US.
Tom
Hanks
and
Tommy
Lee
Jones
are
being
lined
up
to
play
Lyndon
B
Johnson
and
Richard
Nixon.
British
actress
Emily
Watson
has
been
chosen
to
play
Margaret
Thatcher,
while
Albert
Finney
is
expected
to
take
the
role
of
Peter
Ustinov,
who
was
in
New
Delhi
waiting
to
meet
the
Indian
leader
when
she
was
killed.
"This
is
the
project
of
my
life,
both
in
its
scale
and
the
subject.
I
have
been
working
on
the
script
for
over
two
decades
and
it
is
simply
a
story
that
has
to
be
told.
It
took
me
years
to
find
a
way
into
her
story,
but
I
found
it
with
her
role
as
a
mother,
both
to
her
family
and
to
a
nation
with
its
teeming
millions.
Indira
was
India," the
Telegraph
quoted
Krishna
Shah,
the
director
as
saying.
"The
story
is
of
how
Indira
is
a
mother
in
every
aspect
of
her
life,
and
how
she
used
her
instincts,
compassion
and
tough
love
to
hold
the
nation
together,
ultimately
ending
with
her
violent
death
and
martyrdom
to
the
cause
of
national
unity.
"The
films
will
chart
her
life
from
being
a
shy
housewife,
who
stumbled
upon
the
role
of
Prime
Minister,
through
leading
her
country
to
victory
in
the
1971
War
with
Pakistan,
to
her
commitment
to
secularisation,
women
empowerment
and
the
backward
classes,"
he
added.
Shah
said
he
hoped
the
collaboration
between
Bollywood
and
Hollywood
would
make
tie-ups
more
commonplace
in
the
next
decade.
"The
distinction
between
the
two
is
now
starting
to
blur.
Bollywood
is
starting
to
shift
its
outlook,
which
is
a
hugely
positive
move
and
to
diversify
is
the
way
forward
for
Indian
cinema,"
he
said.
The
highlight
of
the
first
film
will
be
a
30-minute
war
sequence
portraying
India's
1971
war
with
Pakistan
featuring
big
budget
special
effects
and
the
emergence
of
Gandhi
as
India's
'Goddess
of
War'.
The
film
is
scheduled
for
release
at
the
end
of
2010.
The
second
film
will
portray
Gandhi's
efforts
to
unite
India,
the
rise
of
her
son
Sanjay
Gandhi
and
ends
with
her
'martyrdom' at
the
hands
of
her
own
Sikh
bodyguards
in
1984.
He
said
the
biggest
challenge
for
him
is
to
appeal
to
both
Western
and
Indian
audiences.
"I
am
approaching
the
project
from
the
Attenborough
school
of
casting.
There
will
be
many
big
names
from
both
Bollywood
and
Hollywood
to
draw
audiences
in.
The
films
will
be
both
dramatic
and
meaningful,
but
also
entertaining.
The
story
has
passion,
love,
marriage,
motherhood,
personal
tragedy
and
revenge.
“We
have
to
strike
a
balance
and
find
the
sensibility
to
appeal
to
a
universal
audience,
that
is
the
biggest
challenge,"
he
said.