RTI murder to go on celluloid.

Dailybhaskar: New Delhi: Friday, May 11, 2012.

Hyderabad-based filmmaker Mani Shankar, whose film Knock-Out, based on the resources from the national exchequer being sent abroad attracted LK Advani’s attention, is now set to go on the floors with a project on the issue of the RTI, which Mahesh Bhupati is likely to produce. The deal is in the final stages of negotiation. But Mani is in a tearing hurry to start the film 'Right to Information'. He has zeroed in on Irrfan and Neil Nitin Mukesh to play key roles.

The film that was in the pipeline for two years has been hastened into production by the mysterious death of RTI activist Ravinder Balwani in Delhi on April 23, 2012. Mani thinks Balwani was killed. He also believes a lot of RTI activists die similary suspicious deaths. And as a citizen and creative professional, the filmmaker intends to use the only tool of protest he has which is cinema  to fight this barbarism.

Mani, earlier made espionage thrillers like December 16 and Mukhbiir which blew the lid off clandestine government activities to show that the means adopted to secure information are often illegal and brutal. The enterprising filmmaker through solid contacts in the bureaucracy has apparently chanced upon shocking and unbelievable details on the RTI that involves the entire government machinery. And he is concerned that the lives of those who file RTI petitions are under risk. “When you ask a question under the RTI, you immediately put your family and friends in danger, it’s as simple as that,” says Mani.

He intends to use the experiences of those five lakh families, where individuals have filed RTIs as material for his film. Every protagonist in Right to Information is based on some person in real life. And Mani is confident that the issue is much larger than the people involved. He wants a  lot of heads to roll when the film is released.