Shooting is under way in County Wicklow on Ireland’s first Bollywood co-production. Producer Breandán Goss of Dublin’s PúCán Films together with his Indian partner J.P. Rajamani of Jaya Vilas Productions are shooting on location for two weeks with the remaining five weeks having already been completed in the Tamil Nardu province of southern India.
The film, entitled “Ayodhiya” deals, Bollywood style, with sectarian tensions between Muslim and Hindu communities in India. Ayodhiya is a holy site for both religions containing as it does an ancient Hindu temple as well as a centuries old Mosque. In the early 1990’s, 3000 people were killed in country wide riots sparked by an attack on the mosque by militant Hindus.
The story tells of a love divided between a Hindu man and his Muslim lover. He exiles himself to the Emerald Isle and she visits him in a desperate attempt to woo him home. Needless to say, plenty of villains also accompany her on her European trip much to the amusement of the local denizens of Wicklow town as they attempt to hunt down their errant compatriot.
CONTACT: Breandán Goss at PúCán Films Ltd, pucan@indigo.ie
