Production of Indian Summer halted over Nehru-Edwina affair

NEVADA - Portrayal of the affair between Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, and Lady Edwina Mountbatten, wife of last British viceroy of India, has apparently halted the production of Cate Blanchett starrer “Indian Summer”.

India Government officials have asked to scrutinize the script to review how the Nehru-Edwina affair will be played out, reports suggest.

Mountbatten’s daughter Pamela also wrote about Nehru’s relationship with her mother in her memoir “India Remembered”.

Richard Hough’s biography “Mountbatten: Hero of Our Times” also talks about this affair. When Edwina Cynthia Annette Mountbatten died on February 21, 1960, India’s parliament passed a condolence resolution.

Oscar winner Blanchett will reportedly play Edwina in this upcoming movie, which will portray last days of British rule in India. Golden Globe winner Hugh Grant also reportedly stars in the film.

Acclaimed Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed, while welcoming Hollywood attempts to show India’s history on big screen, urged the filmmakers to portray India’s historical events authentically.

Zed, who is chairperson of Indo-American Leadership Confederation, in a statement in Nevada (USA), asked them not to re-imagine India’s history just for mercantile greed.

To be released in 2011, the Universal Pictures drama will be reportedly directed by BAFTA winner Joe Wright and written by Oscar nominated William Nicholson, and will show last British Viceroy Lord Mountbatten handing over the power during the summer of 1947 to Nehru.

It is based on the book “Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire” by Alex von Tunzelmann. (ANI)