SHANTARAM to begin filming in January 2008, says director Mira Nair

In a radio interview with the BBC Asian network, director Mira Nair confirmed that she will begin filming SHANTARAM, starring Johnny Depp and Amitabh Bachchan, in January 2008. Bachchan told the Mumbai Mirror, “Yes, they have asked me to block my dates from January 2008 to May 2008.” Art director Nitin Desai is building sets to recreate Dharavi, where the protagonist of SHANTARAM lived while in Mumbai; due to the difficulty of location filming, the Mirror reports, “Most of the shooting is likely to take place in the studio and very little of it may happen at actual locations.” Mira Nair told the BBC that Mychael Danna will compose the SHANTARAM soundtrack; Danna has scored more than 60 films, including Nair’s MONSOON WEDDING and VANITY FAIR. However, expect some musical surprises from SHANTARAM–the Mumbai Mirror reports that Johnny Depp will be doing a masala item number, in true Bollywood style, composed by Vishal Bharadwaj. Many thanks to emma for the very intriguing SHANTARAM news–you can read several articles from the Indian press on the Zone’s News & Views forum.–Part-Time Poet