September 13, 2010 (Sampurn Wire): "Too hot to handle," is how a reliable source at Percept Pictures, the purported producers of the Lalit Modi bio-pic The Commissioner, describes the now-aborted venture.

In a flash-decision taken at a closed-door meeting earlier this week, Percept decided to shelve the intimate Modi bio-pic in favour of a much larger picture on the cricket scams and the IPL controversies.

Percept will now produce what the source describes as "the comprehensive IPL epic. The two IPL seasons, its main players, the franchise owners, the bookies, the brokers, the middlmen, you name them...they will all feature in fictional and non-fictional avatars."

According to the source, Bollywood won't be spared either. "The film will have references to Bollywood's eager participation in the IPL. Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, and Shilpa Shetty might actually make guest appearances."

While the director for this ambitious purported epic is expected to be finalized this week, sources say Percept is in negotiation with three directors for the project.

Interestingly, Percept who collaborated with the Bhatts for Jannat, the film on match-fixing featuring Emran Hashmi, want to collaborate with the Bhatts for the IPL film.

Says Shailendra Singh, the joint Managing Director of Percept, "Yes we will now be going ahead with the film on IPL and cricket. The Lalit Modi film now seems impractical and impossible to make."A source from Percept says, "Every day the profile of Lalit Modi's relationship with the IPL franchise kept changing. After his departure to London, he no longer appears to be the fallen hero who was going to be helming the bio-pic. Lalit Modi will now be a part of the larger picture on the rot that has seeped into cricket."

-- Subhash K Jha / Sampurn Wire