Irrfan Khan to play Jawaharlal Nehru in Indian Summer

We had brought you the news earlier that Cate Blanchett will play Lady Edwina Mountbatten in the movie Indian Summer. The latest is that Irrfan Khan will play Jawaharlal Nehru in the movie.

Irrfan Khan photo

With the principal casting more or less complete – we are not sure if Hugh Grant will play the role of Lord Mountbatten, though – what we have is a sterling crew.

Indian Summer will be directed by Atonement director, Joe Wright, and penned by Gladiator writer William Nicholson.

Now that the Indian government has cleared the script of the film, on the condition that it is subject to approval, the movie is likely to go into production in early 2010.

Indian Summer will be produced by Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan with Hilary Bevan Jones.

Indian Summer is based on Alex von Tunzelmann’s book Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire.

The movie will revolve around the relationship between Lady Mountbatten, wife of the last governor general of India, and Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister.

Jawaharlal Nehru’s niece Nayantara Sehgal and the Mountbatten family have denied that the Nehru and Lady Mountbatten had an affair, in 1947.

Irrfan Khan was last seen in the 2009 Billu and New York. The actor has an impressive bibliography with movies like The Warrior, Namesake, Slumdog Millionaire, Maqbool, and Haasil.

The actor’s next release is Acid Factory, in October 2009, followed by Hisss with Mallika Sherawat in 2010.