Aishwarya Rai

The family of slain Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto has said that it would not give any help to an Indian production house planning to produce a film on her but acknowledged that it cannot stop anyone from producing a movie.

In the backdrop of reports that a Mumbai-based production house was producing the film in which Aishwarya Rai may play Benazir’s role, a lawyer for her husband Asif Ali Zardari said today that the family would not provide any help for the project.

The lawyer, Ashish Mehta, said that a documentary on the life of Benazir who was assassinated in Rawalpindi in December last year was currently being made by a US production house.

A spokesman for her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Farhatullah Babar said that the documentary has been okayed by Benazir herself during her lifetime.

“…As far as we are concerned, this is the only official documentary that we are currently assisting in production,” Babar told reporters.

“We cannot, however, stop anyone from going ahead and making a film, but this will definitely not receive any support from us,” he said.

Babar also said that two other international production houses had approached the family with similar proposals, but they too had been rejected.

Noted Indian filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt had also announced a film Benazir and had approached the family in January this year.

“After we objected to the film, he was cooperative and said he wouldn’t make the movie until he gets the consent of the family,” Mehta said.