CANNES WATCH: Indian company producing movie about Malaysian plane tragedy

CANNES, France – It’s not a Hollywood production, but a movie about the Malaysian plane tragedy is in the works and should be in theatres by fall.

Rupesh Paul Productions is promoting “The Vanishing Act” among buyers at the Cannes Film Festival. A poster for it promises to tell “the untold story” of the missing plane, but in an interview Friday, the associate director of the movie, Sritama Dutta, said the only similarities between the thriller and the real-life disaster is that a plane is missing.

“It has got no similarities,” said Dutta, adding there have been so many developments with the actual case that it wouldn’t be practical to try to mirror it. “We cannot keep up with the true facts, it’s changing every day.”

Dutta said Indian director Rupesh Paul will film the movie and a multiethnic cast for it could be revealed before Cannes ends May 25. Paul hopes to shoot the film in India and the United States and plans a worldwide release in September.

Authorities still have not been able to locate Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which was carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 when it went missing. It’s disappearance and the search for it has made headlines worldwide since then.

Paul’s movie “Kumasutra 3D” is being screened outside the Cannes competition this year.

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—AP Entertainment Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody, http://www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi