Four years back, the infamous Mumbai floods had created headlines world over. True to their reputation, the Bhatt brothers have taken a cue from these headlines and finished Tum Mile, a film that has the 2005 floods as its backdrop.
Directed by Kunal Deshmukh of Jannat fame, the film stars Vishesh Films' blue eyed boy Emraan Hashmi along with Soha Ali Khan and is all set for a 24th July release.
Says a unit source, "The film sees the return of Sony Music and Vishesh Films who had collaborated just a few weeks back for Raaz - The Mystery Continues. Not only was the horror flick biggest hit ever for Emraan Hashmi and Vishesh Films, even if one looks at the quarter gone by, Raaz - The Mystery Continues is the first and the only hit of 2009."
He does make a point when while stating the fact that this is no mean feat considering that some of the biggest stars and biggest movies were released in the first quarter of 2009.
"Look at Akshay Kumar's Chandni Chowk To China, Shah Rukh Khan's Billu, Abhishek Bachchan's Delhi 6 or Farhan Akhtar's Luck By Chance - not a single film turned lucky and actually sunk without a trace."
Says Mukesh Bhatt, "We have always maintained that content is the King. We have backed strong content and now the icing on the cake is that we also have a top actor (Emraan Hashmi) amongst us. This only makes the project bigger and better."
Not much is revealed about the story line of the movie though except for the fact that it is a love story with a backdrop of infamous 26th July'05 Mumbai floods. Apparently, the characters played by Emraan Hashmi and Soha Ali Khan get trapped in the floods.
Insiders have been raving about the canvas of the film since these floods on the streets of Mumbai have been re-created.
"You should have been on the sets to believe it", says Emraan Hashmi, "Water level there was scary enough to actually drown people. Kunal (Deshmukh) wanted the situation to be an exact replica of the horrific flood situation that the city faced that fateful night. It was difficult to even imagine how commuters would have struggled with no support whatsoever."
The film is also special for another reason. Though Raaz - The Mystery Continues saw Bhatts coming together with a team of different composers, Tum Mile marks the coming back of Pritam whose last association with them had resulted in blockbuster musical success Jannat'.
Earlier, he has also worked on the music of Awarapan, Gangster and Woh Lamhe for the Bhatt banner.
Tum Mile is not the first film though which has been based on the 2005 floods. A small time film called 26th July at Barista was released without any fanfare last year.
The film had starred newcomers like Kabier Sawhney and Simran Vaid and was touted as a tribute to all the people of Mumbai who faced this hard reality and overcame it. However, the film had arrived unannounced and sank without a trace.
This is not just a sensational headline, written to grab the maximum eyeballs, nor are we resorting to yellow journalism. This is a plain fact, that has been accepted by none other than the very much in love couple Emraan Hashmi and wife Parveen Hashmi.