January 18th, 2009
Journalist-turned-National award winning Malayalam director R. Sarath (who made Sayahnam (2000), which won several awards including the Indira Gandhi National Award and Kerala State Film Award for the Best film in 2000) is all set to direct The Desire (English), starring Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty in a most challenging role. The shooting of this prestigious Indo-Chinese joint venture will start this week in Kerala.If reports are to be believed, Shilpa Shetty will shave off her hair for a part of this film, being co-produced by Sharad Hegde and Tracy Shiyun. "I can't reveal everything about my role. If I tell you everything now, why would you watch the film? But yes, this is by far the most challenging role of my career. It takes me through ten turbulent years of my character's life. It's a very intense love story between me and my Chinese co-star, Xia Yu," she said, according to a website.
R. Sarath, who is working with Shilpa for the first time, said The Desire is essentially a passionate film dealing with dance, music, art, culture and emotions. It revolves around Goutami (Shilpa), an accomplished Odissi dancer and a talented artist Jai Leang (Xia Yu), following the journey of their lives until they are separated and brought together again by destiny.
Other actors in the film are Jayaprada, Anupam Kher, Sachin Khedekar, Sheetal Menon and Nakul Vaid. Indian music maestro A.R. Rahman will score music. Expected to grace theatres in December 2009, The Desire will be dubbed in Chinese as well.
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