You’re sure to have heard all about the Sheena Bora and Indrani Mukerjea case by now, and that comes as no surprise: with all the various theories, rumours and allegations doing the rounds, this has turned out to be quite the saga. In fact, when discussing the case in the office yesterday, we even commented that we were sure that some Bollywood director would step up soon to announce that he/she would be making a film based on the entire situation. And would you look at that – it’s (kinda) true!
Mahesh Bhatt has now revealed that his next film, for which he’s already written the script, is weirdly similar to this case. The film, titled Ab Raat Guzarnewali Hai, was apparently written in May of this year, which is why Bhatt is rather surprised to see so many similarities between it and the Sheena-Indrani case. Here’s what he said:
I empathise with the living hell Peter is going through and this is not a pathetic attempt to ride on his unspeakable tragedy. But bizarre as it may sound, fact is that this is a case of life imitating fiction rather than fiction imitating life.
The director won’t say much about his script, but his team reveals that the “story is of crime and passion, drenched in blood, revolving around a mother and daughter.” Bhatt further went on to say:
The story grew out of my imagination. I never imagined that it could be unfolding for real in a highrise in our backyard where the rich and powerful reside. The coincidence between a pure work of fiction and real life staggers me, it makes me shudder.
However, he’s also clear that he’s not going to add any more to the script based on the real life events of Sheena and Indrani. “My work is done, I only wrote this story for my protege. The film should roll in December. I never imagined that it would explode for real as the mother of all crime stories.”
Well, this should be interesting!