Shyam Benegal to direct epic on Buddha

Dadasaheb Phalke Award winning director Shyam Benegal is all set to direct a historic epic on Gautam Buddha.

Atul Tiwari, who scripted films like Bose, the Forgotten Hero and Mission Kashmir, has been roped in to write the script and dialogues.

The film is expected to go on floors around mid-2008 and released a year later. It will be produced by Light of Asia Foundation and Beyond Dreams Entertainment Limited.

"This is a historic moment for South Asian Cinema. We are about to tell the story of a man who was born in the Indian subcontinent and redefined the way the world thinks. The Buddha's philosophy is more contemporary today than ever before," said Yash Patnaik, CEO of Beyond Dreams Entertainment Limited.

The film will be shot in Sri Lanka and Patnaik has already done the location study along with Benegal and Tiwari. The producers have acquired over 1,000 acres of land near Colombo where a massive set will be built to recreate the era for the filming of the epic.