After
Dasavatharam,
'ulaka
nayakan'
Kamal
Hassan
and
latest
Bollywood
attraction
Asin
are
all
set
to
team
up
again
with
an
English
film
titled
19
Steps,
to
be
produced
as
a
co-venture
by
Bharath
Bala
Productions
(BBP)
and
Walt
Disney.
Kamal
Hassan
and
Asin
will
share
screen
space
with
Japanese
superstar
Tadanobu
Asano
in
this
Indo-Japanese
film,
slated
to
be
made
on
a
50-million
dollar
budget.
The
film,
directed
by
Bharatbala,
will
trace
the
origins
of
the
martial
art
form
of
Kerala,
Kalarippayattu.
It
is
heard
that
the
movie
will
be
made
in
the
backdrop
of
the
ninth
century.
Shooting
is
likely
to
start
in
the
summer
of
2009.
Kamal
plays
the
character
role
of
a
veteran
Kalarippayattu
guru
(teacher)
who
trains
Tadanobu
Asano
in
his
fight
against
his
enemies.
Asin
will
play
a
local
princess,
a
martial
arts
expert
who
falls
in
love
with
Asano.
The
movie
is
based
on
a
script
written
by
the
best-known
Malayalam
writer,
M.T.
Vasudevan
Nair,
popularly
known
as
MT,
a
Jnanpith
award
winner
who
has
won
five
National
awards
for
screenplay
writing.
MT's
script
is
now
being
re-written
by
Hollywood
script
doctors
to
give
19
Steps
an
international
look
and
suitable
for
an
overseas
audience.
19
Steps
will
have
versions
in
English,
Hindi,
Tamil,
Telugu
and
Japanese
with
music
by
A.R.
Rahman.