Oscar-bound 'Water' to release in India by 2006

Mumbai, Sep 23 (UNI) Deepa Mehta's 'Water', which depicts lives of widows in Varanasi and was selected as Canada's official entry in the Foreign Film Category to the Oscar awards, will be released in India by the end this year.

Filmmaker Ravi Chopra, who has purchased the distribution rights told UNI that he decided to buy the film after seeing it with John Abraham who is acting in his film 'Babul'.

''John who features in 'Water' told me one day that he had received the first print of the film and asked whether I would like to see it. After watching 'Water', I liked it so much that I asked John when it was releasing in India. He said nothing has been decided as yet because there are no buyers. I immediately decided to distribute the film myself,'' Mr Chopra said.

''We are proud that the film has been selected as a Canadian entry because Deepa who is originally from India is Toronto-based.

She called me yesterday morning to give me the good news,'' he added.

''Water'' is a Hindi film starring John Abraham, Lisa Ray and Seema Biswas. Deepa had initially begun the shooting for the film in Varanasi but shelved it due to vehement protests.

Earlier, Shabana Azmi was part of the cast. But, Deepa rescheduled the shooting with new actors in Sri Lanka.

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