Bollywood Jesus Film Due in 2011

According to The Guardian Bollywood star Pawan Kalyan is set to play Jesus in a new film to be shot on location in Israel/Palestine. "A $30m (£20m) production involving an all-Indian cast of mainly children will begin shooting on location in the Holy Land in October and is scheduled for release next year." The film has not yet been given a title and the script is still in production but it will apparently cover the Jesus story from his birth to his crucifixion. That suggests that there will be no resurrection, but time will tell. However The Globe and The Mail's piece on this suggests the story's focus will be on Jesus' childhood. Variety has also reported the story. (Thanks to Peter Chattaway for those two).

This brings two other films to mind. The first is another Indian Jesus film Dayasagar (also known as Daya Sagar, Oceans of Mercy, Karunamoorthy, Karunamayudu) which includes the resurrection (and ascension) as well as Jesus' birth and his childhood. The other is The Aquarian Gospel, another Indian film that was intending to focus on the period of Jesus' life that is not covered by the gospels. I've not heard anything on that film since 2008.

According to the new movie's director, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, this latest production will be 195 minutes long, featuring seven songs, in four languages (including English). At $30m it will be one of the most expensive Bollywood films ever made.