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Vivek Oberoi in July bombing film

Bollywood golden boys Vivek Oberoi and Ashmit Patel are all set to star in a film based on the July 2006 rail bombings in India.

The film, based on the bombings that killed 186 people, will examine the genesis of Islamist militancy in India. It will also delve on the patriotism of the country’s Muslim population.

India’s Hindi-language film industry, the world’s largest by volume and ticket sales, often makes simplistic movies about communal harmony, but it seldom undertakes any serious examination of the problems of the nation’s minority Muslim population. Its patriotic films are often a blood-and-gore rhetoric against arch-enemy Pakistan, which is blamed for fanning militant violence and trying to break up India.

“Live TV,” to be directed by award-winning filmmaker Ujjal Chatterjee, promises not to play to cheap public sentiments, and instead, rely on documented history. The film opens with four young television journalists reaching one of the seven bomb sites in the western metropolis of Mumbai where they find people trapped inside trains. The reporters, while following up on the story, find that dozens of Muslims are held on suspicion of involvement in the blasts. They try to find out if the suspects were being harassed because of their religion, Chatterjee said.

Bollywood stars Viveik Oberoi and Ashmit Patel are expected to play the male leads while Esha Deol or newcomer Sameera Reddy will be their love interest.

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