Arora told PTI that the singer of Hips don't lie and Waka Waka fame is "excited" about the role and is very keen to take up the project. According to Arora, Shakira fits in the film pretty well. "We are fine tuning the association and it will be finalised after negotiations, paper work, documentation," he added.
"The casting is still in the initial stages. We started pre-production little less than a year ago. The film will be set in the imaginary world and no timelines have been set. Hence, there will not be any real location in the film. It will be similar to James Cameron's Avatar but not as big," Arora said.
He denied the film has got anything to do with scriptures. "It's a fiction movie. Only the look, feel and fabric is inspired by Hindu Mythology. The story is different than what people may expect," he added.
Kali-the warrior Goddess will be directed by Simon Hunter with technicians from USA, UK and Research team from Kolkata to work on the look of the movie. Arora who is the CEO of High Grounds Entertainment Ltd will produce the movie in association with noted sound recordist Walter Anderson.
Arora said "Kali" will not be typical song and dance movie. "One will not see Shakira as we are used to seeing her dance. The movie will not hurt anybody's sentiments," he added.
The movie will go on floors in April next year and is slated for a 2013 release, he added.
Meanwhile, Arora said his other production Bhindi Bazar, the Deepti Naval-Manisha Koirala starrer is in the final stages of post production and will be released in November.
Arora's Picture Thoughts Production is also in the process of finalising two more projects Padosi and Let's Talk Love.
Padosi is set in 1949 in a village bordering India and Pakistan and it stars Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey. "The movie will be directed by newcomer Pritam Jolly. Gulzar has liked the script and is likely to pen the lyrics," he said.
Let's Talk Love will be shot in Fiji and will be directed by Nandita Kothari. It stars Madhavan and Prachi Desai. "We are talking to Arjun Rampal for another important role," Arora added.
Photograph:Luke MacGregor/Reuters
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