Filmmaker Aneek Chaudhuri casts Amrita as Jesus Christ

MUMBAI: Filmmaker Aneek Chaudhuri, whose "White" -- a silent film on rape survivors -- has been to various film festivals, is now looking to "shake up beliefs" with his next film "Cactus" in which he has cast an actress as Jesus Christ.

"Cactus" is a feature length film and is in its production stage. Amrita Chattopadhyay, who started her journey into films with "Anwar ka Ajab Kissa" and has been seen in multilingual film "3 Smoking Barrels", will essay Jesus Christ.

Chaudhuri explained: "Here, we are dealing with symbolic elements; Amrita will not be conventionally dressed as Jesus but will present a metaphor to the same.

"'Cactus' would be the portrayal of death in its most beautiful form. And I am quite happy to have someone like Amrita in the cast."

Amrita caught the director's attention caught my attention with her debut film appearance.

"It was an extraordinary leap for an actor who was into television We have been into talks for the past few months and I was eagerly awaiting the release of '3 Smoking Barrels'. The film made me convinced how versatile, but real an actor can be," Chaudhuri said.

He described "Cactus" as "a surrealistic attempt in defining some of the established beliefs".

"It focuses on the Bible, Mother Mary and the enlightenment of Jesus. Hence, I already know it is not open to many European festivals. But I needed to make this. I am looking to shake up beliefs with this film," he said.

He aims to be premiere the movie in international film festivals.