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Third tryst with Nehru

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Date: 2002-6-14

NEHRUVIAN THRILLS: Perizaad Zorabian as Indira Gandhi and Partap Sharma as Jawaharlal Nehru in The Bandung SonataActor-writer-commentator Partap Sharma is playing Jawaharlal Nehru for the third time on screen.
"I was delighted when I bagged the role," he says. Sharma essays Nehru in an international project, The Bandung Sonata, based on the 1955 Bandung conference of Asian-African leaders held in Indonesia. Nehru, along with daughter Indira Gandhi, had participated in the summit.

"It was at this meet that Chinese communist Premier Zhou Enlai played a very important role along with Nehru and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt leading to the foundation of the Non-Aligned Movement," says Sharma.

The Bandung Sonata has been produced by the China Film Group Corporation, the largest film production studio in China, and directed by Wei Lian.

Previously, Sharma had essayed Nehru in Kumar Kiran's film Nehru 'The Jewel of India and also in Jalal Agha's TV show on Urdu poets called Kahkashan. "I was featured in the episode on Faiz Ahmed Faiz where Nehru was portrayed as a friend," informs Sharma.

The Bandung Sonata also has Perizaad Zorabian playing Indira Gandhi and Rio Kapadia as Gamal Abdel Nasser.

"It is a political thriller with a $ 40 million budget. We shot on a start-to-finish two-month schedule from February in Beijing, Hainan Island in south China, besides Indonesia."

The film made in English and Chinese will be released first in China on October 1 the country's National Day. "It is primarily about China and about Zhou Enlai who was initially not called for the Bandung meet. He was later invited and almost did not come because of sabotage by Chinese rebel groups. The aircraft he was supposed to fly in was bombed. Eventually he did arrive, only to display some exemplary statesmanship,"says Sharma. "It also depicts the bond between Zhou Enlai and Nehru which made them chalk out the Panchsheel the five principles of friendship for the two countries."

Sharma found shooting in China to be of clockwork precision 'where everything was done overnight. They would take our costume measurements in the evening and deliver the next morning. They had an amazing eye for detail including Nehru's red rose!'

At the moment, Sharma is writing a play on Bodhi Dharma, the founder of Zen, who lived in 525 AD. "It will probably be made into an international film later," he says. Incidentally, his daughter Tara Sharma (who appeared in the Pepsi ad with Shah Rukh Khan) debuts in Anupam Kher's Om Jai Jagadish opposite Abhishek Bachchan. "I don't give her acting tips. I think she has done a good job from whatever I have seen in the songs. It isn't easy doing all that on screen."

shaheen@mid-day.com