A biopic on Mother Teresa is in development, the makers announced in a press release on Monday. Written and directed by Seema Upadhyay, the film will have a cast of Indian and international actors.
The producers are Pradeep Sharma, Nitin Manmohan, Girish Johar and Prachi Manmohan. The cast and crew are yet to be finalised, the press release said. The film is eyeing a 2020 release.
Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in present-day Macedonia, she came to India in 1929 at the age of 19 and worked as a teacher for many years while also taking her vows as a nun. She set up the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata in 1950, the same year she became an Indian citizen. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She was canonised in September 2016, 19 years after her death.
The producers said they were “delighted and happy” to make a film about the “global icon”. They added in the press statement, “We hope we will do justice and will be able to spread the message for peace, love and humanity that Mother Teresa stood for.”
The biopic has the clearance of Sister Prema Mary Pierick, who currently heads the Missionaries of Charity. “We visited the charity of missionaries in Kolkata and the experience was surreal,” the press release said. “Mother Prema prayed Hail Mary and seeked divine guidance for the film.”
Previous films on the Roman Catholic saint include the television productions Mother Teresa: In the Name of God’s Poor (1997) and Mother Teresa of Calcutta (2003) and the 2014 American drama The Letters, starring Juliet Stevenson.
