Mother film cast hopes for January release

Kolkata: It was celebration time for some Indian actors soon after Mother Teresa's second miracle was recognized. Tilottama Shome, Vijay Maurya, Pravishi Das and Priya Darshini -the four Indian actors to have acted in Hollywood film titled `The Letters' -are all praying for another `miracle'. They are hoping that the film's India release comes as a New Year, if not a Christmas, gift.The film released in the US on December 4 this year.
William Riead's film is a drama that explores the life of Mother Teresa through letters she wrote to her longtime friend and spiritual advisor Father Celeste van Exem over nearly 50 years. Some of her letters have been published in the 2007 book `Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light'.
Kolkata-girl Tess Joseph, who was the film's casting director, got a call from the film's production unit in November 2011. “Being a student of Kolkata's Loreto House, I was aware of the struggles Mother went through when she wanted to leave Loreto and start her own order. I'm glad the film focussed on her early years. It ends with her receiving the Nobel,“ Joseph said.
Casting for a feature film was a huge honour though Joseph would have been happier had the film been completely shot in Kolkata. Instead, Kolkata was re-created in Goa. Only some portions of the film was shot in the city . Maurya, who plays Maharaja Singh, said, “My character lives in a Hindu-dominated slum. Initially , he fears that a foreigner is trying to takeover and is very anti-Mother.“ Shome plays his wife. “My character is sceptical of Mother's ways until she assists the family in a life and death matter. That creates a change of heart,“ Shome explained.
At the Sedona Film Festival, the film won the Audience Favourite `Best of the Fest' Award. At the International Catholic Film Festival in Rome, Riead was honoured as best director and Juliet Stevenson as best actress.