Vishal Bhardwaj calls National Film Award ‘biggest honour’
Vishal Bhardwaj receives the Best Music Direction award at the 70th National Film Awards for his short film 'Fursat', marking his ninth win at the prestigious ceremony.
Vishal Bhardwaj’s upcoming film Abbottabad, based on the bestselling book The Exile on Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, will break barriers and reach out to audiences across the world, believes Priti Shahani of the film’s co-producing banner Junglee Pictures.
Junglee Pictures, known for bankrolling films such as Talvar and Bareilly Ki Barfi, has acquired the rights of the book.
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“The Exile is an amazingly well researched investigative account of a man (Osama Bin Laden) who was the most wanted criminal across the globe and it accounts his journey in 10 years of his life when he was on the run,” Shahani said in a statement.
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Abbottabad will reportedly be about the time Bin Laden spent in between Tora Bora and his last days in Abbottabad.
Shahani said: “Vishalji came to us and asked us if we would be interested. Once we read the material, it was the easiest decision to take.
“We want to be associated and involved in telling stories that are relevant and this is one of the most significant ones in recent times.
“The treatment and the way it would be handled by Vishal, we know that it is going to break all the barriers in terms of diaspora and reach out to audiences across the world,” she added.
Shahani, who has a dedicated team that looks into literature to find the best suited content for the big screen, also said The Exile authors Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark were “very clear that they wanted this material to be handled by South Asian director”.
“They elected this material to get attached to Vishal Bharadwaj, who we all know is a prolific director and writer,” she said.
Earlier this week, Bhardwaj — known for movies like Omkara and Haider — said this will be a challenging project.
“Excited to tackle this new subject but also nervous since it’s my biggest challenge with completely new cultures and languages,” the Kaminey director tweeted.
The cast and crew are yet to be finalised.
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