Taj Mahal in Hollywood

BOLLYWOOD REEL

Many want to film the essence of this love story.

The real Taj Mahal has fascinated Hollywood for years. There have been umpteen attempts to convert this tribute of love for Mumtaz Mahal into an epic feature film.

In the mid-fifties, Indian filmmaker Mehboob Khan had approached 20th Century Fox with a Hollywood version of Taj Mahal. He stayed in Los Angeles for over six months to pursue the project and even planned to get Elizabeth Taylor to play Mumtaz Mahal.

Then there was writer and journalist Kamran Pasha, born in Pakistan, who had announced that he had set up his first feature script at Warner Brothers "� a historical epic on the timeless and tragic love story of Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal.

The English language epic movie was being pitched as Gladiator meets The Last Emperor. Warners were to team up with Trilogy to bring this project to the screen. The film has yet to see the light of day.

In Hollywood, filmmaker Krishna Shah "� the first Asian-American writer/director/producer who has won critical acclaim both on Broadway and here "� had announced his plans to produce and direct a mega film on Taj Mahal. The financial backing for the project fell through at the last minute.

Meanwhile, in India, Taj Mahal has been successfully completed as a feature film numerous times. The first film on Taj Mahal was made in 1941 followed by M Sadiq's Taj Mahal in 1963 starring Pradeep Kumar and Bina Rai.

In recent years, India has witnessed three battling Taj Mahal films based on the Mughal emperor's undying love for his wife and the monument he commissioned as a tribute to their union.

The three are: Bharat Bala's IMAX that has not been released yet, Robin Khosla's English film on Taj Mahal which went into theaters in 2003 and the recently released Akbar Khan's Taj Mahal "� An Eternal Love Story.

Robin Khosla's film was first previewed at the American Film Market in 2000. Robin, son of the film's producer Ramesh Khosla, claimed he researched the subject for three years before deciding upon making the film. It sank without a trace.

At the Cannes Film Festival last year Akbar Khan launched his version "Taj Mahal "� An Eternal Love Story" and it was screened at the film market twice for special invitees. The film opened to a feeble response globally.

In the year 2000 in Hollywood, US-based Indian technology tycoons including K B Chandrasekhar and B V Jagadeesh, co-founders of Internet infrastructure firm Exodus Communications, Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande, chairman of optical networking firm Sycamore Networks, and Kanwal Rekhi, former chief technology officer of Novell came together to fund an IMAX movie on the Taj Mahal.

The film is titled "Heart of India", and made by film-maker Bharat Bala who has produced path-breaking images of India throughout his entire career.

Formerly known as Taj Mahal: The Eternal Love Story, Heart of India celebrates the many thousands of years of unbroken cultural heritage of the mystical country. The film travels across mysterious and striking India; through its ancient cities, misty mountain passages and vast desert kingdoms.

Produced by TriColor Films, Bharatbala Productions and MacGillivray Freeman Films, the film's music has been scored by A R Rahman. The film, currently in production, stars Aishwarya Rai who plays Mumtaz Mahal the queen who inspired the marble monument. The IMAX film has been shot all across India.

Given the never-ending curiosity for the myths and stories revolving around the Taj Mahal, this is surely not the last of such films.