The row over Ram Gopal Verma’s tour of the Taj Mahal Hotel after the Mumbai attack may have put the filmmaker on the defensive, forcing him to deny that he was planning to make a film on the subject, but many other filmmakers have no such doubts. According to the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPAA), Mumbai, as many as 18 film titles associated with the Mumbai terror attack have been registered with them.

These include names like 26 Taj, 26/11 Mumbai Under Terror, Operation five-star Mumbai, Taj to Oberoi, Mission Oberoi, Mission Taj, Nariman House, Bird’s Point of View Taj Terror and 48 hours at Taj, among others.

According to Ujwala Londhe, ‘title in-charge’ at IMPAA, the first title was registered as early as November 28—which means, before the siege got over and even before the much-publicised Taj tour led by former CM Vilasrao Deshmukh.

“Vijay Verma of the Hyderabad-based Salt and Pepper Entertainment was the first person to register the title 26/11 at Mumbai Operation and ever since, more titles have been pouring in,” confirmed Londhe.

Filmmaker Akash Sehgal of Tornado Films has registered five titles, including The Taj Encounter and Taj 26. Other film houses to queue up are Red Butterfly Pvt Ltd, Z Films International, and Shivsahi Pictures that have also registered titles to do with 26/11.

“I flew from Hyderabad to Mumbai to register the title. I think what happened was horrible and this must be brought before the public,” Vijay Verma said. He said the script for the film was almost ready and that it would be a “Hinglish film”. “We hope to begin shooting from January 2009 and complete the film by June,” he said. Though the cast is still to be decided, Verma said that he hoped to rope in someone like Naseeruddin Shah to play the main lead of a police officer.

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