Modi's life inspires Bollywood movie

Bangalore:

Indian Premier League Commissioner Lalit Modi's controversy-ridden life has become the inspiration for a Bollywood movie, aptly titled 'The Commissioner'.

The former Rajasthan Cricket Association President, admired and criticised in equal measure for his style of functioning, has been approached by Percept with a story based on his life though Modi is yet to give his nod to the project.

"They have been discussing it with me for the past few months. I have not agreed yet because I have not seen the script. They are exploring the idea and different directors have met me. At the end of the day, they are still in the exploring stage right now. Somebody wants to make a movie on my life. That's a compliment," Modi said.

Percept's Managing Director Shailendra Singh said it would be one of the most extravagant projects by his company. "I think this would be a landmark project. 'The Commissioner' is a mix of bollywood and cricket. I think we have spent about year and a half evolving the story and understanding Lalit Modi's life and then sort of understanding the climax that he created the IPL," Singh said.

"That's how 'The Commissioner' was born and only when we are sufficiently ready with the concept and we had a writer on board did I actually approached lalit himself. He was a bit shocked. I don't think this was an agenda on his mind currently but he was pleasantly shocked if I could say so," he added.

Singh said the film will explore a father-son relationship but the climax would be cricket-centric. "Lalit has a fascinating story of father-son relationship. There is bollywood drama and the climax is sport," he said.

"We are working with Sreedhar Raghuvan, he is an established writer. He is the one evolving the storyline. For directors, our dream would be to have an established name like Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Farhan Akhtar or Madhur Bhandarkar," he added.