Ben Kingsley Builds The TAJ Mahal With Aishwarya Rai

Ben Kingsley who won Oscar for his great performance as GHANDI way back in 1982 is returning to India. He won’t be starving himself for a cause this time, not poor, not struggling for the country’s independence either, this time he’ll be playing Shah Jahan, the emperor who built one of the 7 wonders of the world, Taj Mahal…

According to The Guardian, he’s producing the project titled TAJ which will have an estimated budget of about $30 Million. The story behind Taj Mahal is a tragic love story. The construction was inspired by Jahan’s favored wife Mumtaz Mahal who died in childbirth, it was dedicated in his memory. It took 22 years to build the whole thing.
The actress to play Mumtaz is none other than one of the most beautiful women on earth, former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, who previously collaborated with Kingsley in the poorly reviewed medieval film The Last Legion.
This project is not kidding around, we have a great actor, a great monument and a great beauty, let’s just hope it translates into a great movie.
No director yet, but British playwright and novelist David Ashton wrote the screenplay for TAJ, and both Kingsley and Rai would meeting with a bunch of rich Indian investors to look for financing.
Kingsley’s fourth wife, Brazilian actress Daniela Lavender will also be in TAJ, playing Jahan’s first wife, the Persian princess Kandahari Begum
TAJ will start production in Fall 2010

I’m reminded of the funny scene from Slumdog Millionaire where young Jamal was pretending to be a guide at the Taj Mahal, telling the tourists that the emperor’s wife died on the way to the hospital