A seminal documentary on Daniel Pearl, the American reporter killed in Pakistan while on the trail of the Al Qaeda, is set for a April 27 New York world premier and could air in India soon after that, its co-director says.

"The Journalist and the Jehadi: The Murder Of Daniel Pearl" works on various levels, explained Romesh Sharma, who counts among his works the critically acclaimed political drama "New Delhi Times".

"It is a profile of Pearl the journalist and of Omar Sheikh (the British-born Al Qaeda operative who has been sentenced to death for the murder and a chronicle of the events that took place when their lives intersected in Pakistan post-9/11.

"It's a story that not just talks about Daniel Pearl and Omar Sheikh but also talks about the (Pakistani spy agency) ISI. It talks about other forces that were there working within the story. So there were a number of sub-texts within the film," Sharma said of the work that took two years to complete and has been co-directed by Pakistan-born British filmmaker Ahmed Jamal.

The duo, and US TV major HBO, have co-produced the 88-minute documentary that has cost almost as much as a full length feature film and has been narrated by noted CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour.

"The Journalist..." will premier at New York's Tribeca Festival, with a repeat show scheduled for April 29. Sharma is also in talks with an Indian TV channel for its home debut. HBO will air it in the US Oct 10, Pearl's birthday.

"Everybody who has seen the film so far finds it very moving and extremely relevant because it's the story of a man who tries to bridge the divided world. It's the story of a great journalist," Sharma told in an interview at his Noida studio.

"It is most ironic Pearl should have got killed in the way he was, because of all the people, he was probably the last person to be termed anti-Islamic. In fact, in the WSJ (Wall Street Journal) newsroom, he was called Danny of Arabia," he added.

Pearl, the WSJ bureau chief in Mumbai, was kidnapped in Karachi and murdered Jan 29, 2002 allegedly at the behest of Omar Sheikh while chasing the paper trail left by the 9/11 bombers. Sheikh was one of the three terrorists New Delhi released on Dec 31, 1999 in return for the passengers of an Indian Airlines jet that had been hijacked to Kandahar in Afghanistan.

Unlike other journalists, Sharma maintained, Pearl "attempted in his own idealistic way - and that was probably the humanism in the man - to bridge the world, a divided world through his writings".

"He was fascinated by Islam and Islamic culture. Most of his writing was very compassionate. It was a writing that tried to understand Islam, tried to make sure that Islam and all the various misunderstandings of Islam were explained to American readers," Sharma stated.

"The Journalist..." emerged while Sharma's Moving Pictures Company production house was researching for a series of documentaries on post-Taliban Afghanistan, including a biopic of President Hamid Karzai.

"We also did a major film on jehad 'The Sword of Islam'. When we were researching that, we came across, a number of times, the story not just of Daniel Pearl but also of Omar Sheikh," Sharma said.

Early on in the project, Sharma realised that much of the shooting would have to be done in Pakistan and so he roped in Ahmed Jamal, who has done a lot of work for Britain's Channel 4 and is best known for his film "The Fundamental Question".

"We started raising funds to make the film. As we went on, the film began to get a life of its own. We began to realise that not only was it compelling, it needed far greater research than we had actually envisaged," Sharma said.

Fortunately for the filmmakers, Pearl's parents were of tremendous help.

"They opened their heart and their home and their archives and their research, everything to us. We got almost all the photographs of Pearl as he grew up. We almost began to have a biopic of the man in terms of everything he did from his childhood till his death almost," Sharma stated.

The Wall Street Journal then opened up, as did managing editor Paul Steiger, "and to our great surprise, glee and elation, we got the FBI and the people who actually investigated the case to open up to us", Sharma said.

In Pakistan, Jamal managed to get to the policemen who investigated the case, "so, gradually, we started putting together a very compelling narrative - the profile of Daniel Pearl the journalist, the profile of Omar Sheikh the jehadi, and a chronicle of the events that took place that made this into such a compelling drama when their lives intersected in Pakistan post-9/11", Sharma added.

Then the money began to run out and by a fortuitous happenstance, Sharma "ran into" at last year's Cannes Film Festival, South African producer Anant Singh, who operates out of London and Los Angeles. Singh brought HBO on board and the rest, as they say, is history.

In fact, it was HBO who suggested Amanpour narrate the script.

"Fortunately for us, Amanpour happens to be on the board of the Daniel Pearl Foundation. So when she heard (about the film), it was almost karmic, things just fell in place," Sharma said.

"We already have a lot of interest in the film from the Germans, the French, the Italians, and the Australians. The film is hopefully going to be released all over the world," Sharma maintained.

"We want to do it gradually so we build up the whole thing. Once we do all that, we are hoping we will also come up with a DVD. We are talking at the moment to certain news organisations. It's a new thing that has started in America and Britain: you burn DVDs of films that are important and distribute it with the newspaper," Sharma added.