In the Flames of Divine Love

By Ünal Livaneli - Today's Zaman - Konya, Turkey
Thursday, August 30, 2007

Indian filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, currently working on his upcoming project which will be a feature-length movie focusing on 13th century Sufi philosopher and poet Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, visited Turkey this week to see the locations for the movie.

The movie, titled "Mevlana in the Flames of Divine Love," will be filmed in India and Turkey and will be translated into several languages including English, Arabic, Urdu and several European languages, the film's producers say.

The scenes to be filmed in Turkey will be shot in several provinces, with the biggest part at a movie set to be erected in Konya -- the central Anatolian province which houses Rumi's tomb and the famous Mevlana Museum.

The filming session in Konya is estimated to be completed in 25 or 30 days, the producers say. Other locations include the central Anatolian provinces of Kayseri and Sivas.

The screenplay for "Mevlana in the Flames of Divine Love" was written by American Muslim writer Kebir Helminski, while the director of photography is Italian cameraman Vittorio Storaro, who also served as director of photography at the crew of the 1987 movie "The Last Emperor."

The film, which has a budget of $25 million, is expected to be completed in 2008.

The famed director, who traveled to both Konya and Sivas recently, said the locations used for the film in Turkey would become highly popular in cultural circles after the film opens in cinemas throughout the world.