If things go as planned, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan or Saif Ali Khan will get to act with British actresses Kate Winslet or Rachel Weisz.
Director Pan Nalin wants either Aamir or Saif to play a lunatic in his next film, a screen adaptation of Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto’s short story ‘Toba Tek Singh’. And actresses like Rachel Weisz or Kate Winslet are being considered to essay the role of female protagonist.
Pan currently is in Cannes for the screening of his short film on global warming. He has already been to Pakistan to get the rights of the short story. It tells the tale of a mental patient Bishan Singh, who belongs to the town of Toba Tek Singh. After the 1947 partition, when the governments of India and Pakistan decide to exchange their Muslim, Sikh and Hindu lunatics, the drama that unravels forms the base of the story. It’s a powerful satire.
Either Kate or Rachel will probably play the character of Dr. Sophie who visits the asylum to divide the mental patients. Pan will soon talk to both the ladies as soon as he is back from Cannes. He thinks either of them can do full justice to the role.
Reports convey that Aamir has gone through the script and has liked it too, but the busy actor hasn’t given any dates for it yet. And if Aamir is too busy to do this film, Pan is not worried because he feels Saif can play the role as well as Aamir can. So it depends upon the availability of the actors when the movie goes on the floors this August. And according to recent buzz, Irrfan Khan might also end up with a role in the flick.
Pan Nalin is a self-taught maverick Indian director whose first film ‘Samsara’ was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful movie that grossed US $22 million.