IN 2013, doomsday will arrive in India, and two epic monuments, Taj Mahal and India Gate will be blown to smithereens.
At least on film. Transformers director Michael Bay is going to collaborate with Tony D'Souza, director of Bollywood flick Blue, to create the first desi doomsday epic film.
In D'Souza's proposed epic disaster film titled Chand 2013, the destruction of the Taj Mahal and India Gate will accompany that of the famous Khajuraho temples in Madhya Pradesh. The film will be made in collaboration with Sid Jain (Ragini MMS producer).
When D'Souza directed Blue two years ago, Bay offered inputs and the two remained in touch since. The inspiration to make the disaster flick, in fact, came from Bay, who promised D'Souza every kind of guidance and input.
Said D'Souza, "Michael Bay is a very busy filmmaker. I'd love to have him on-board although mine is a very small film compared with what he makes. Chand 2013 is, of course, inspired by Michael's cinema. We've (Bollywood) never done an end-of-the-world film before probably because we are scared of the scale."
According to the director, Chand 2013 will have sequences of unmitigated disaster and horror involving national relics.
Said the reticent director, "It's really too early to talk about Chand 2013. We've a whole lot of planning to do if our film is to be India's equivalent of Transformers.
Aliens attacking various cities, monuments and relics would entail huge financial resources and we will be showing the Taj Mahal being destroyed by aliens.
Anyway, before I make Chand 2013, we need to survive the doomsday prophecy by the Mayan calendar for 2012. If doomsday really happens, who will watch my screen version of it?"
The film will have three male leads. Though D'Souza was reluctant to reveal the cast, we hear Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Akshay Kumar have been chosen.