Mallika Sherawat act in film on Christ-The Aquarian Gospel
Mallika Sherawat is to play the role of Jesus Christ's confidante in an American film called The Aquarian Gospel. The Australian-born Drew Heriot, director of the docu-feature, The Secret (2006), which sold the largest number of DVDs in the USA that year, is helming the film.
The Bible is silent on Christ's life between 13 and 30, and down the centuries, many theories have been constructed about what he did in these years. Among the more popular beliefs is that Christ visited Kashmir. Heriot's film chronicles Jesus's journey from Israel as a young boy, through India, Tibet, Persia, Greece and Egypt.
In the movie, he encounters people of all creeds and meets sages from different faiths. Sherawat will play Saraswati, one of Yeshua's (Jesus) loyal friends whom he bonds with while he travels through India.
The actress, who has broken taboos in the Indian film industry with bold movies such as Khwaish and Murder, feels The Aquarian Gospel also breaks a different kind of taboo by discussing the "lost years" of Jesus. Saraswati is a celibate ‘yogini' (brahmacharini)—a nice contrast for an actress known as Bollywood's Bardot.
Heriot said, "Mallika is not just a pretty face, she is versatile, has a background in philosophy, so she will convey the richness of the subject matter."
"I find that in most mythological and spiritual film stories, women seem to be lacking in any true wisdom or a sense of humour," said Sherawat. "I look forward to bringing both these qualities to this character."
The script is written by John F Sullivan and William Sees Keenan, who were inspired by two books: the best-selling book The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ, which was written by Russian anthropologist Nicholas Notovich, whose journey to Tibet uncovered ancient scrolls describing the missing years of the life of Jesus, and The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ by evangelist Levi Dowling.
