The actress makes her foray into direction with a huge project the life of Gautam Buddha

She has been known to do the unpredictable, and now we hear Manisha Koirala will soon be taking on another challenging role in Bollywood, this time behind the cameras.

The Nepali-Indian actress is all set to make her directorial debut with a film based on the life of Gautam Buddha.

Following inspirations

A well-placed source reveals, "Manisha is highly inspired by the life of Buddha. When she was approached to direct the film, she immediately agreed.

The film is being produced by a Sri Lankan producer and will be shot in Sri Lanka. The script is going through a few changes. If all goes well, the film will go on the floor by the end of this year."

Bollywood projects on the renowned Buddhist spiritual teacher have been jinxed for quite sometime now. The subject drew many filmmakers, but for one reason or the other the ventures failed to take off.

Nearly 12 years ago, Mira Nair abandoned her Buddha movie because Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci beat her to it with his Little Buddha starring Keanu Reeves as Siddhartha. Shyam Benegal was supposed to direct it in 2007 with Hrithik Roshan as Buddha.

Then, filmmaker Ashutosh Gowarikar revived the project and conducted a nationwide hunt for a newcomer to play the lead. A lot of high profile international technicians were roped in for the magnum opus, but it hit a roadblock since it went over-budget. The film was co-produced by industrialist B K Modi.

Finally, the project may see the light of day. While Manisha was unavailable for comment, her manager confirmed, "Yes, it is true that she is turning a director soon. I am told that it is in the scripting stage. Manisha is coming to Mumbai soon to start work on the film."

Actors who turned directors

Aamir Khan
Ajay Devgan
Sohail Khan
Anupam Kher
Naseeruddin Shah
Pankaj Kapoor
Hema Malini
Kamal Haasan
Deepti Naval
Deepa Sahi