http://sify.com/movies/tamil/fullstory.php?id=14737697
Bharath Bala and his Bharath Bala Productions (BBP) who makes television commercials, documentaries and music videos have now tied up with Walt Disney to produce a feature film in English. The martial arts film titled *19 Steps*, will feature Kamal Hassan, Japanese superstar Tadanobu Asano, and Asin in the lead roles. It will be directed by Bharath Bala and will have music by A.R Rahman. Remember Bala and Rahman combo have produced the unforgettable music video documentaries like *Jana Gana Mana* and *Vande Mataram*. Bala's film is based on a script written by the best known writer in Malayalam M.T Vasudevan Nair or MT as he is popularly known, a Jnanpith award winner who has won five National awards for screenplay writing. This period film deals with *Kalaripayattu* the martial arts form from Kerala and will trace its roots to the ninth century. MT, the 75 year old literary giant has written on Kerala folklores and warlords in films like *Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha* and is now the script writer of Hariharan directed *Pazhassi Raja*, the costliest Malayalam film ever, a historical featuring Mammootty and Sarath Kumar. MT's script is now being re-written by Hollywood script doctors to give *19 Steps* an international look and suitable for an overseas audience. In the film Kamal plays a character role of a veteran *Kalaripayattu* guru who trains Tadanobu Asano in his fight against his enemies. Asin will play a local princess and a martial arts expert who falls in love with Asano. The shooting of the $ 50 million film is likely to start in the summer of 2009, and Walt Disney wants a fusion of Japanese and Indian martial arts in the film. It will have versions in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Japanese. Recently Bharat Bala told a tabloid "It's too early to disclose anything. Currently we are in the midst of negotiations."
