Scarlette Murder to become a Bollywood movie.
While India in general and Goa in particular, especially the law and order infrastructure of the state is still reeling from the sensational murder of British teenager Scarlette Keeling Bollywood director Prabhakar Shukla is planning to make a film about the same.
The rape and murder in Goa this year became a global story, when the bruised and semi-naked body of Keeling, a 15-year-old girl who was holidaying in Goa with her family, was found on the Anjuna beach on Feb 18. An initial ruling of accidental death prompted her mother Fiona MacKeown to call for a second autopsy.
Her allegations of a nexus between drug barons, politicians and the police in Goa were denied by the local administration but highlighted lapses in investigation.
The second autopsy returned a verdict of rape and murder. A third post-mortem conducted in Britain showed that Indian doctors had removed Scarlette’s kidneys, stomach and uterus without informing Mackeown.
In an interview with The Times newspaper,Shukla said that he would start filming ‘Rave Party’ in Goa in July and had already approached Katrina Kaif, a Bollywood actress who was brought up in London, to play the teenager.
“The whole film is against drug abuse and the exploitation of tourists,” said Shukla, whose last production “Kahani Gudiya Ki” (Story of a Little Doll) was released in 2007. It was based on the true story of an Indian prisoner of war in Pakistan.
“Not just in India, but all around the world, real-life cinema is attracting curiosity. Film should be a mirror for society and people should get some inspiration or precaution from it,” said Shukla .
He had not yet contacted Scarlette’s mother, but said he hoped to meet her in Britain next month, adding: “I have great sympathy for her”.
Fiona MacKeown , however, said she had reservations about the proposed film, which she feared would portray Scarlette in a bad light, rather than her killers and the police who tried to cover their tracks.
“I’d like to know how they’re going to portray it, or I won’t approve it,” she told The Times. “I’m not sure about calling it ‘Rave Party’. Scarlette was not at a party. She was raped and murdered on the beach.”
