Robin Khosla makes a bilingual Taj Mahal

An English speaking Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan? Yes!

Director Robin Khosla plans to make his film Taj Mahal -- A Monument Of Love bilingual.

"Taj Mahal has an universal appeal," he says. "Everybody knows about this monument. So we have decided to make the film in English and Hindi to cater to a larger audience."

Taj Mahal, based on the love story of Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz Mahal, will also be dubbed in Latin, Spanish, German, French and Arabic. "We want to release this film simultaneously in Hong Kong, USA, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and some South East Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea," he adds.

Robin, son of the film's producer Ramesh Khosla, claims he researched the subject for three years before deciding upon making the film. "When I was doing a film course in Philadelphia, people used to ask me about the beauty of the Taj Mahal. Many of them could not believe how someone could love a woman so much that he can construct such a magnificent monument. So I thought one day I will make a film on the subject. And here I am!"

The film begins with a journey of Sabrina Avilla, a Hollywood actress who visits Taj Mahal to find the meaning of true love. She then travels back in time into the 16th century.

The film has been mostly shot in Jammu & Kashmir, Agra and Mumbai. Raghu Raaj, a theatre artiste from Canada, plays Shah Jahan, Purnima (sister of actress Bhagyashree) plays Mumtaz and Moon Moon Sen plays Noor Jahan. The film includes other actors like Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Shahbaaz Khan and Raja Chowdhary.

Incidentally, there are two more films being made on the Taj: Bharat Bala's IMAX film Taj Mahal starring Aishwarya Rai and Akbar Khan's Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story starring Manisha Koirala, Arbaaz Khan, Pooja Batra, Zulfi Sayed, Sonya Jehan, Kabir Bedi and Kim Sharma.

When this is pointed out to the director, Robin says, "I have no idea what they are making or what they are up to. I have researched Shah Jahan for two years and now, I know everything about the Taj Mahal."

Purnima says she is honoured to play Mumtaz's role. "I hope people will love my role and the film," she adds.

The English version of the film has two songs sung by Jagjit Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan, while the Hindi version has four by Singh, Chauhan, Roop Kumar Rathod and KK. The music is composed by Santosh Nair.