Kareena Kapoor is all set to star opposite Hollywood hunk Jared Leto in the first East-West film of her career, "Gandhi Park". To be directed by Palakkad (Kerala)-based chartered accountant-turned-film professional Kolata Tom George, the new crossover venture is due to roll in New York on Jan 20.But the first-time director does not want "Gandhi Park" to be known as "Tom George's film". He says: "It is going to be every Indian's film. It is a film that will highlight the contribution of the global Indian."The cast of "Gandhi Park" will also include Naseeruddin Shah, R. Madhavan and Shernaz Patel. Twenty percent of the film will be shot on north Indian locations like New Delhi's India Gate and Agra's Taj Mahal, reveals George. The film, to be produced by an outfit in the US, has been scripted by the well-known Hollywood screenwriter David Linter. Linter's credits include the Michael Radford-directed Daryl Hannah starrer, "Dancing At The Blue Iguana".Kolata Tom George, who lived in New York for 10 years, is not new to the moviemaking scene. He has already produced a few Malayalam films, including the critically acclaimed "Akale", National Award-winning director Shyamaprasad's adaptation of Tennessee Williams's "The Glass Menagerie".The $9 million "Gandhi Park" could catapult the producer-director to a completely different league. "When the US faced the Y2K (Year 2000 problem) crisis, Indian software engineers stepped in and fixed the problem. Indian doctors and engineers are also in the forefront of life in the US. My film will be an honest attempt to tell the world what Indians are capable of achieving," says George."Too many films coming out of this country these days tend to focus on India's poverty," says George. "They end up giving the world a terribly lopsided view of the country." "Gandhi Park" will have Naseeruddin Shah playing a New York transit system official and Shernaz Patel will assume the role of his supportive nurse-wife. The couple has one daughter, the character to be played by Kareena, a pharmacist and violinist in love with an American (Jared Leto, the star of such Hollywood films as "Alexander", "The Fight Club" and "The Thin Red Line"). Tamil movie superstar Madhavan will play the crucial role of a skilled software engineer who works for Bill Gates.
