***"South Asia is a distinct cinematic entity because our films focus on societal and individual concerns.”

-- Shyam Benegal***

When the time comes for an idea, nothing can stop it, so goes the saying.

This is precisely what happened when directors from South Asia, including Bangladesh, gathered in the Indian coastal state of Goa, a paradise for international tourists, on the last day of June to give wings to a joint venture film production.

Bangladeshi filmmaker Tanveer Husseini, Buddhi Kiritisena of Sri Lanka, Pakistan's Siraj-ul-Haque, Abdul Hameed Latifi of Afghanistan have joined hands to make a film which is likely to be a love story across five South Asian countries.

The occasion was the concluding day of the third edition of South Asian Film Festival organized by South Asian Foundation.

From India, the director in the joint effort would be either actress-producer Pooja Bhatt or director Sudhir Mishra, according to Manoj Srivastava, Chief Executive Officer of the Entertainment Society of Goa which hosted the South Asian festival.

Siraj-ul-Haque said the story idea was still in development stage. “We are yet to decide which country the protagonist will be from. It will be a love Story which will track bn<^ person from the eyes of five different filmmakers from five countries," he said.

Latifi said the script for the proposed movie should be ready in two months. "We have all agreed to be in touch with each other to take forward the story idea. A concrete idea should take shape in two months," he added.

Secretary General of South Asia Foundation Rahul Barua said the film would be produced under the banner of of the Foundation, which will organise the funds.

He said the film would be basically in English with subtitles in languages of the respective countries.

Srivastava said each of the five directors will shoot in another country and the Indian director will shoot a 20-minute sequence in Pakistan, the Bangladeshi filmmaker will shoot his part in India, Sri Lankan director will shoot in Bangladesh and the Pakistani director may shoot in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's actress Khatera Yousufi will be one of the members of the cast of the film whose Indian portion will be shot in Goa whose beautiful silvery beaches straddling the Arabian Sea draws millions of Western tourists every year.

However, the question that cinema buffs ask is: can there be a distinct South Asian film? According to veteran Indian director Shyam Benegal, “South Asia is a distinct cinematic entity because our films focus on societal and individual concerns."

He said South Asian countries has a lot in common in terms of culture and human emotions. "When we travel to each other's countries, we do not feel that we have entered an alien land as we do while travelling to the United States or Europe."

Benegal, who is scripting an India-Sri Lanka joint production on Lord Buddha, which he will direct, also said. "1 rued that South Asian countries share very little in terms of cinematic exchange and said there was a need for exploring the possibilities of co-production."