It is a role that demands an actor of stature as great as Amitabh Bachchan .
For centuries Shakespeare's tragic play King Lear has fascinated theatre artists and actors. Now Bengali filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh is said to be planning to make a movie on the play.
However, the movie will not be a direct adaptation of Shakespeare's play, but will be based on an adapted play called 'Aajker Shahjahan' by Bengali actor Utpal Dutt.
Very briefly, 'King Lear' tells the story of an ageing king who has three daughters. The king decides to abdicate the throne and divide his kingdom between his three daughters. But before doing so he holds a contest in which he asks his daughters to demonstrate their affection towards him in speech. While the two elder daughters speak volumes about their love for the king, the youngest daughter (who loves King the most) refuses to say anything because she feels words would belittle her emotions. The King eventually divides the kingdom between his two elder daughters and banishes the youngest one. Ironically, when the two daughters come into power they turn cold towards the king.
Like any other Shakespearean tragedy, the story of King Lear has a universal appeal.
Rituparno Ghosh's movie will star Amitabh Bachchan as the ageing King Lear. Preity Zinta , Divya Dutta and Shefali Shah will play his three daughters. Preity will understandably play the youngest daughter. The movie also stars Arjun Rampal .
Planman Motion Pictures, run by Arindham Choudhary, will produce the film.
According to Choudhary, Mr. Bachchan's towering personality makes him perfectly suited for the role of King Lear.
The movie will reportedly be made in English language.
I guess Preiry will play one of the daughther...Im actually really lookin forward to this film...n the fact that its going to be in english is also intresting. Its based on King Lear by Shakespeare:
Heres the plot for that
Plot Overview
Lear, the aging king of Britain, decides to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom evenly among his three daughters. First, however, he puts his daughters through a test, asking each to tell him how much she loves him. and , 's older daughters, give their father flattering answers. But , Lear's youngest and favorite daughter, remains silent, saying that she has no words to describe how much she loves her father. Lear flies into a rage and disowns Cordelia. The king of France, who has courted Cordelia, says that he still wants to marry her even without her land, and she accompanies him to France without her father's blessing.
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Lear quickly learns that he made a bad decision. Goneril and Regan swiftly begin to undermine the little authority that Lear still holds. Unable to believe that his beloved daughters are betraying him, Lear slowly goes insane. He flees his daughters' houses to wander on a heath during a great thunderstorm, accompanied by his and by , a loyal nobleman in disguise.
Meanwhile, an elderly nobleman named also experiences family problems. His illegitimate son, , tricks him into believing that his legitimate son, , is trying to kill him. Fleeing the manhunt that his father has set for him, Edgar disguises himself as a crazy beggar and calls himself "Poor Tom." Like Lear, he heads out onto the heath.
When the loyal Gloucester realizes that Lear's daughters have turned against their father, he decides to help Lear in spite of the danger. Regan and her husband, , discover him helping Lear, accuse him of treason, blind him, and turn him out to wander the countryside. He ends up being led by his disguised son, Edgar, toward the city of Dover, where Lear has also been brought.
In Dover, a French army lands as part of an invasion led by Cordelia in an effort to save her father. Edmund apparently becomes romantically entangled with both Goneril and Regan, whose husband, , is increasingly sympathetic to Lear's cause. Goneril and Edmund conspire to kill Albany.
The despairing Gloucester tries to commit suicide, but Edgar saves him by pulling the strange trick of leading him off an imaginary cliff. Meanwhile, the English troops reach Dover, and the English, led by Edmund, defeat the Cordelia-led French. Lear and Cordelia are captured. In the climactic scene, Edgar duels with and kills Edmund; we learn of the death of Gloucester; Goneril poisons Regan out of jealousy over Edmund and then kills herself when her treachery is revealed to Albany; Edmund's betrayal of Cordelia leads to her needless execution in prison; and Lear finally dies out of grief at Cordelia's passing. Albany, Edgar, and the elderly Kent are left to take care of the country under a cloud of sorrow and regret.
Seems like a dark but intresting story and aswell as preity n AB Im soo looking forward to seeing arjun rampal in this film 2! Mebbe he'll play the edmund guy or the king that marries cordelia (possibly played by preity i guess)
Edited by riz k - 18 years ago
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