Indian filmmaker plans Christ biopic
Singeetham Srinivasa Rao to shoot pic in Israel
By NAMAN RAMACHANDRAN
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Veteran Indian helmer Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, who has more than 50
films to his credit, will shoot a film on the life of Jesus Christ on
location in Israel.
The film will have a cast of child actors and a voiceover narration by
South Indian star Pawan Kalyan.
Konda Krishnam Raju, who produced the 2006 Hindu devotional "Sri
Ramadasu," is producing the untitled film via his Aditya Prods.
The 195-minute epic will have English, Hindi, Malayalam and
Telugu-language versions.
Raju is awaiting clearance from the Palestinian Authority to shoot in
Bethlehem and Jericho. Filming is expected to begin in October for a
2011 release.
The budget is estimated at $30 million, although Raju would not confirm
that at a press conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday, saying only that the
budget was going to be "huge."
If that figure is accurate, it will be the second most expensive Indian
film ever after S. Shankar's "Endhiran," which cost $32 million and is
due out this month.
In 1978 director A. Bhimsingh made the Telugu-language "Karunamayudu" on
the life of Christ that was dubbed into a number of other local languages.
There are 24 million Christians in India, about 2.3% of the country's
population.
Contact the Variety newsroom at n...@variety.com.
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