If all goes well, beautiful Italian actress Monica Bellucci will don the garb of Sonia Gandhi in Jagmohan Mundhra's proposed bio-pic on the Congress chief.

Mundhra, who is in Cannes for the market screenings of two of his films - the Aishwarya Rai starrer "Provoked" and the Kerala-set international thriller "Backwaters", has already got in touch with Bellucci, a juror this year for the main Cannes Competition.

"I have told her that that she simply cannot afford to miss this opportunity," the bearded director said half in jest.

Does he have Gandhi's go-ahead for the project? "Yes, the family is with me," said Mundhra.

Gandhi's children Rahul and Priyanka, he reveals, have expressed a desire to watch "Provoked", a film based on the experiences of a Britain-based Punjabi woman compelled to kill her abusive husband. Mundhra hopes to get a print of the film across to Delhi soon enough.

The Gandhi siblings have also seen Mundhra's "Bawander", inspired by the infamous Bhanwari Devi rape case.

Both "Provoked" and Aishwarya Rai's performance in the pivotal role have garnered positive reviews in Cannes and Mundhra has reason to believe that he is now ready to make the leap to the next level of what has always been an eventful, if somewhat chequered, career.

Bellucci can only add some more lustre to it.