Vishal Bhardwaj’s Next Would Explore the World of Osama Bin Laden

The “global” film would be a prequel to the Oscar-winning ‘Zero Dark Thirty’.

Vishal Bhardwaj is ready to break several barriers with his next project. The Rangoon director is gearing up to make a film that tells a global tale - more to the point, a story that revolves around the infamous Osama Bin Laden.

The film, dubbed as a prequel to the Oscar-winning Zero Dark Thirty, will be based on the book The Exile, written by Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy, who also wrote The Siege, on the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. According to a report by Times of India, Bhardwaj was hooked on to the idea of making the film after reading the book.

They (Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy) told me about the next book they were working on - The Exile - and I was sold on it in one line, when they said it’s “the prequel to Zero Dark Thirty.” That got me hooked.

Vishal Bhardwaj, Filmmaker

The book revolves around Osama Bin Laden’s presence and influence in Asia, ranging across everything from his emergency evacuation from Tora Bora in Afghanistan to how the S Wing of the ISI kept guarding him for 9-10 years. The story would cover the events from an insider’s point of view - in fact, from the perspective of Ibrahim, who guarded and protected Laden for years.

You need a protagonist to tell this story, and Osama Bin Laden cannot be this person. Ibrahim is a very relatable character - the rest are all so larger-than-life. The story starts from the point where this man is in awe of the guest, to the point where he feels compelled to give him an eviction notice.

Apart from the truly interesting story, what got Bhardwaj hooked to the project is the urge to tell “a story that everyone needs to know”. He pointed out how the huge size of the Indian movie market stops filmmakers to attempt making a global film. And he’s determined to do that in association with Junglee Pictures.

We can’t wait to find out more about this one.

(Source: Times of India)

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