In an interview with the Times of India published this morning, director Steven Spielberg announced plans to produce a movie set along the Indian-Pakistani border, in the region of Kashmir. The movie, which Spielberg plans to produce but not direct, shares a little-known personal connection to the region; his father was stationed in Karachi during World War II and traveled across India during periods of rest.
Spielberg told the Times:
" 'About two years ago, I was going through a lot of my dad's things. We found three boxes full of my dad's love letters to my mom and her letters back to him. So I set up the video camera and my dad and I went through them. Some were too personal but my dad (who is now 96) read others out loud while I filmed him. At the bottom of one of the boxes, I found three sealed envelopes of about 9 by 4 inches each.
" 'When I opened them, it was the negatives of 400 still photographs which my father hadn't gotten developed. I had a lab print each one as an 8 by 10 inch photo, and I saw my father's entire history in Karachi, Bombay and Calcutta and other cities in India during WWII.' "
"' That was the first time I really became aware of what my father did in the war,' " said Spielberg.
Spielberg said the script has been written, but is now looking for a director, cast and locations. The new project will be Spielberg's first in India since he shot "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" in 1983.
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