After two and a half years, J P Dutta has finally secured the required permission from the Ministry of Defence to roll his next war film. Ever since he made Border in 1997, the producer-director has been keen to tell the story of the wars that the country waged.
Says a source, `JP Saheb is back with the necessary green signals from the ministry on the sensitive subject as well as the locations. He has already done a recce of the various sites where the film will be shot along the border.`
His actress wife Bindiya Goswami who was in London cut short her trip and returned to Mumbai on hearing the news. As he was eagerly awaiting the government clearance, she was keen to be around to share his joy.
Dutta, known for his war-based subjects, has based his new film on the India-China war of 1962. He will be narrating his story through the eyes of the Param Vir Chakra winning war heroes.
Adds the source, `Now that the paperwork has been done, J P Saheb has begun ascertaining the cast. His office at Andheri is buzzing with several actors keen to be part of his film. Border had a huge line up of stars that included Sunny Deol, Akshaye Khanna, Sunil Shetty, Tabu and Pooja Bhatt. He is keen to have big names in his new film as well.`
Dutta, whose last B-Town outing was Umrao Jaan with Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai in 2006 is better known for his desert-based films like Ghulami, Batwara and Refugee. He also has an emotional connect with the armed forces as he lost his brother and a cousin to it.