MUMBAI: Director Deepa Mehta will start shooting for Komagata Maru in 2013.
The film is based on the Japanese ship hired by Malaysia-based wealthy Sikh Gurdit Singh to take 376 Indians from Hong Kong to Canada in 1914 to challenge its racist laws. It will revisit the journey of Indians who wanted a better life in Canada but were denied entry by the racist government of the time. They were not allowed to disembark in Vancouver and forcibly sent back to India where many were shot on arrival in Kolkata.
The film will have Akshay Kumar in the lead. "The Komagata Maaru incident will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2014. Hence financiers feel that it would be much better to do it for the 100th anniversary," Mehta said.
To be produced jointly by Hamilton-Mehta Productions Inc in association with Akshay Kumar‘s home production Hariom Entertainment, the film would be shot in Canada and around the world.
Meanwhile, having finished with the writing of the script for the big-screen adaptation of Salman Rushdie‘s Midnight‘s Children, Mehta has started with the casting of the film.
Actors who have already been confirmed for the film include Seema Biswas, Shabana Azmi, Irrfaan Khan, Soha Ali Khan and Nandita Das. The latest is that American-Indian actor Satya Bhabha will be playing the older version of Saleem while Darsheel Safary will play the young Saleem.
