Gurinder Chaddha's film on partition takes off in Delhi-Jodhpur

Now that Gurinder Chaddha’s twins have turned five and are going to school, and she has lost close to 25 kgs of weight, she is all set to storm into filmmaking again. Yes, the lovely lady will be back with a secret project that she has been working on even while changing nappies and feeding the babies. A call from Gurinder on Monday afternoon from her home in London ,and out spilt all the details on the great partition film that she begins filming this October (2012) in Delhi and Jodhpur. The film’s central figure would be Lord Mountbatten. Colin Firth or Michael Fassbiner is being finalized for Mountbatten’s part. Gurinder wants Saif Ali Khan to play Jawaharlal Nehru. She has already spoken to Naseeruddin Shah to play Jinnah, and he’s game. Says Gurinder laughing heartily, “Well, I don’t know how much of a secret it is anymore, now that you know about it. But yes, this is my biggest challenge to date. I’ve been working on my partition film for some time now. The central character is Mountbatten. The movie is set in January 1947 when Mountbatten was asked to oversee India and the movie ends in August 1947, so it’s a brief time span. But a huge canvas requiring tons and tons of research and scores of characters. I’ve spoken to some people including Naseer and Saif. Nehru’s role is a cameo, so I wonder if Saif would be willing to do it. Oh yes, and I want my Bhaji On The Beach actress Zohra Sehgal to be in my partition film.” Continues Gurinder with palpable excitement, “I’ve already acquired the necessary permission to shoot everywhere in India including Rashtrapati Bhavan. So I am all set. I don’t have to shoot in Pakistan at all. This would be my ultimate dream project and I can’t wait for it to take off.” The film kickstarts in October because, believe it or not, the astrologer says so. Explains Gurinder, “The wife of the author of the book on which my partition film is based, is heavily into astrology. She says October is a good time to start.” On Saturday Gurinder would be running between Blackpool to Manchester with the Olympian torch. “Though it’s just a 300-yard run I’ve been practicing for months now. There will be 8,000 people to cheer me on. My friends and relatives are coming there with drums and other musical instruments. I am super-excited to have been selected to run and I see it as a great honour. I get to keep the torch too so my children will have a very special memento to keep in years to come.” So it’s houseful-time for Gurinder, is it? “Oh yes! Now that the twins have become five and have started attending school I’ve a good six hours to myself. So I’m making up for lost time.” In fact, Gurinder was in Mumbai last month for her dear friend Karan Johar’s 40th birthday party. “But no one saw me slip in and slip out, probably because there was so much less of me now to see,” Gurinder chuckles about her 25-kg weight-loss.