Casablanca, one of the top films on the list of world cinema’s classics that has spawned many remakes including Pamela Anderson-starrer dud Barbwire, will soon have an Indian tribute paid to it with the Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil crisis as its backdrop.

Rajeev Nath, who won the National Award for Best Director in 1999 for his Malayalam film Janani, is the man behind the project that will transform the World War-II backdrop of Casablanca — named after the eponymous city in Morocco — into one of the Tamil crises in Sri Lanka.

Mr Nath, in an interview with Deccan Herald, said that the film, to be called Ezham Mudra (The Seventh Seal), would not be a remake of the Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman starrer made in 1942, but would be his “tribute” to the all-time classic.

He has completed the script of the film that will star Mandira Bedi in the main role along with Malayalam actors Suresh Gopi and Nedumudi Venu.

“I plan to start shooting in September so that the film is ready for release early next year,” he says.

A love story
Aware of the sensitivities involved in using the backdrop of the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka, Mr Nath, whose first Hindi film Anubhav had its world premiere at the ongoing 9th Osian’s Cinefan Festival of Asian & Arab Cinema, makes it clear that his film would be a love story like Casablanca, with the Tamil issue forming just a backdrop.

“It will be set in the present day. I have consulted people who know the background. I too am well conversant with the Tamil crisis. I am not anyway commenting on Tamil militancy...  whether it is good or bad. I am only using it as the backdrop to tell my story,” he said.

Apart from some parts in Colombo, Mr Nath plans to shoot most of the small budget film in Kerala itself. Mani Ratnam’s Kannathil Muthamittal, which also had the Sri Lankan Tamil crisis as backdrop, was shot in parts of Kerala.

Incidentally, The Seventh Seal is the name of a 1957 film by Ingmar Bergman, but Mr Nath makes it clear that his film is a tribute only to Casablanca.