India FM

Mumbai, May 3: There has been widespread speculation about the nature of Vishal Bhardwaj's next project. A section of the press reports that Vishal has signed the hot Kill Bill star Uma Thurman for his next project.

Vishal currently in London mixing songs for the film is surprised by these rumours about his film. "It's just not true," he says about the purported cast of his film.

The truth is Vishal's next directorial film is an epic set in a foreign land. The film will have both Indian and foreign actors. It would be a much bigger film than Omkara in terms of canvas and budget.

The script for Vishal's new project has been written in collaboration with Matthew Robbins who was in India earlier this year. A large chunk of Robbins' time was spent in collaborating on the script for Vishal’s latest script.

Vishal revealed the details. "Matthew who wrote Spielberg's first feature film The Sugarland Express and also Close Encounters Of The Third Kind was in India for nearly two months. We spent a lot of time together. He saw my Omkara and recommended me to Francis Coppola for the additional shooting that I did for Coppola's under-production film."

Divulges Vishal, "We went off to Moussourri where we wrote out a musical. It's a musical unlike any musical in Bollywood. It takes the language of film music steps ahead of where it is."

Vishal plans to start shooting this film in the second-half of 2007. "The casting will begin soon. For me the musical format is very precious. I'm a musician at heart. And I became a filmmaker only so I could employ myself as a music director. Ironically today I'm getting more offers to do music than the time when I was only a music director. But for now I'll score music only in the films I make. The musical which I've written with Robbins is something that will give full vent to my aspirations as a music director."