Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur plans to shoot a movie on the Armenian genocide and, as reported by Hindustan Times, the filmmaker is aware of its challenges. The media reports that Kapur’s latest film deals with the systematic extermination of minority Armenians in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) by the Ottoman Empire during and after the Great War (1915-1923).
As we have recently reported the filmmaker twitted about his visit to Yerevan, Armenia, to collect material on genocide.
“It is a part of world history though a very shameful one,” Kapur said. “The idea came to me based on a script sent to me by the screenwriter of Motorcycle Diaries (Puerto Rican Jose Rivera). I fell in love with the script. It is a challenging project though. It will require lots of money, lots of passion and organisation. But there are a lot of passionate people behind this project. So it will hopefully see the light of day”.
As Hindustan Times reports, the creation of the film will not start until the next year. The idea of creating such kind of a movie is also challenging as it is taboo topic in Turkey and a Nobel laureate like Orhan Pamuk was prosecuted and found himself on the hit list of a far-right Turkish group for openly stating that Turkey had committed genocide against the Armenians.
As for Kapur, the filmmaker states, “I invited the wrath of upper castes, the government and the censor board with Bandit Queen. But I did not back down. I believe in fighting for what I believe in.”
