Sonia Gandhi has not turned down my film proposal: Mundhra

Britain-based Indian filmmaker Jagmohan Mundhra has put on hold his project to make a film on Sonia Gandhi because he hasn't got any concrete reply from the Congress president. She has said she will let him know after the general elections next year. "I'm afraid a lot of inaccuracies and fabrications have crept into the reports in India about my Sonia project. Yes, I did meet her but she has not given the nod to the project. Nor has she said no," said Mundhra. "She was gracious but noncommittal and extremely genteel. She wanted to know if biopics were made about living people. I pointed out several films on Nelson Mandela. I told her I didn't want to make a film about Sonia the politician, but about two individuals from disparate backgrounds who fall in love and make a life together." Mundhra narrated several anecdotes on Sonia's early years with Rajiv that he had collected in the course of his research. "I told her things she thought no one knew. When she came from Italy to England, she went to a school of languages in Cambridge to learn English. I also told her about the bakery in London where Rajiv used to clean the chimney in the night, about that bird in a nest in his room in London for which he wouldn't close the window in the night so the bird could return home and Soniaji's fondness for the ice creams that Rajivji took her to have at India Gate."Sonia seemed convinced by Mundhra's sincerity. "But I repeat, she has neither said yes nor no," concludes the director. "I've been asked to hold on till the general elections in 2009."