'I met Sonia Gandhi' reveals Mundhra

London. 7 March 2008: Indian media is still talking about renowned film director Jagmohan Mundhra's confession at an India-EU Film Initiative programme in London, where he admitted, for the first time, that he had met the Congress leader Sonia Gandhi after her party lawyers had issued a legal notice against him for making a biographical movie based on Sonia Gandhi's life and works. The meeting went unreported in the media as it was supposed to be confidential. The Hindustan Times, CNN-IBN, NDTV, The Hindu, DNA, Indian Express and others, at least, this time, didn't let it go unnoticed.

Jagmohan Mundhra and Pervaiz Alam on 1st March 2008 at the Nehru Centre"The meeting with Sonia Gandhi took place on 10th Oct 2006 at her residence, 10 Janpath in New Delhi, which was attended by Congress Party's spokesman Abhishek Singhvi as well," Mundhra confirmed at a programme organised by India EU Film Initiative at the Nehru Centre in London, Saturday, 1st March 2008.

"Mrs Sonia Gandhi took keen interest in listening to the storyline of my film 'Sonia'. She was kind and patient, and did not raise the issue of legal proceedings at all. There were times when she looked amused as I narrated the most memorable moments of her life from a director's perspective, particularly, how she met Rajiv Gandhi. She, in fact, reminded me that 'there was a time when Rajiv Gandhi ji' had to sell ice creams' when they were studying together in Cambridge, England."

"However, Sonia ji said that she was a private person and could not come to terms that some one really wanted to make a film about her. She said she was amused. Usually, she said, such films are made about people who are dead," Mundhra added.

Director Nehru Centre Monika Mohta facilitates Jag MundhraIn July 2006, Abhishek Singhvi, party spokesman and a senior advocate of the Supreme Court had issued a legal notice to Jagmohan Mundhra in London saying that the biopic would not be allowed to go ahead as it was unauthorised.

After receiving the notice, Mundhra said, the film was put on hold and that status has not changed since then. The film, based on journalist Rasheed Kidwai's book 'Sonia', was to have starred Italian actress Monica Bellucci as Sonia Gandhi.

"After meeting Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi I left with the impression that she was relieved after knowing my intention about making an honest film on her life," said Mundhra.

The film was to chronicle the times of Sonia and her husband Rajiv Gandhi, former prime minister of India who was assassinated in 1991, and the moments from their love and marriage to her rise to become the most high-profile woman in India.

The controversial director of films such as 'Provoked' and 'Shoot on Sight', Jagmohan Mundhra was facilitated at an evening 'Life and Times in Indian Cinema', an India EU Film Initiative programme in association with London's Nehru Centre.

Earlier, the Nehru Centre director Monika Kapil Mohta highlighted the fact that India's emergence as a 'Soft Power' was largely due to its incredible performance in films and culture.

A senior diplomat in the government of India, Monika Mohta reiterated her government's position that 'India will project its "soft power" through greater use of its films, music, dance, art and cuisine in 2008-09'. She thanked the Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram who allocated additional funds of Rs. 750 million (nearly $10 million) in his annual budget submitted before the parliament Friday, 29 Feb 2008.

Audience, Nehru Centre LondonThe programme was attended by several film-makers and senior executives from the media, including Head of Programmes, BBC World (TV), Narendhra Morar, BBC World Marketing Director, Jane Gorard and Head of Programmes NDTV in UK, Sucharita Ghosh.

Welcoming the film professionals, the director of India-EU Film Initiative Pervaiz Alam said" The golden era in the commercial sense has just started for the Indian film industry as the eighth PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Entertainment and Media Outlook has ranked India as the fastest growing market in the world for spends in entertainment and media in the next five years."

International film-maker Angus Strachan, who is making a multi-million-dollar budget film 'Between Two Worlds' on Ram and Sita with a Shakespeare twist appreciated the role played by India-EU Film Initiative in bringing the film communities of Europe and India closer.

He announced that soon he would be leaving for India to cast a couple of Indian actresses in his film. He hoped to cast Aishwaray Rai and Ayesha Takia.

Asra Fareed from Chello Media, Netherlands, profiled Jagmohan Mundhra. Chello Media is a Europe-based content division of Liberty Global, and a leading international provider and distributor of about 27 TV channels, ranging from movie channels to entertainment. They have big plans to expand in India.

During his conversation with broadcaster Pervaiz Alam, Jagmohan Mundhra confirmed that he would be doing two Bollywood films this year, one of them with actor Govinda and the other one with Aishwarya Rai's secretary's film company. He has also been approached to direct a comedy thriller 'Bullets, Babes & Bollywood', for a company called 'One More Thought', headed by Parvez Damania, Mundhra added.

The director criticised all those who still keep on calling him 'the Sultan of Porn' despite making thought-provoking and socially relevant films such as 'Kamla', 'Bawandar', 'Provoked' and now 'Shoot on Sight', http://www.shootonsightthemovie.com/, a political thriller on Islamophobia and terrorism, set for release in May 2008. Watch its trailer on our site in the Film Bazar category.

The programme with director Mundhra was second in the series 'Life and Times in Indian Cinema'. The first programme with India's actors Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri was widely reported in Indian media as both actors had called 'Bollywood' a derogatory term.