National Award-winning filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj and Meghna Gulzar are a winning combination. Their last outing, Talvar, won rave reviews across segments and proved to be a box office success, too.

Naturally, there is excitement in the trade that these two bright minds will once again collaborate for another film. It is said that Vishal has finished giving final touches to a script that is based on the IC 814 flight hijack. He has also bought the rights of Neelesh Misra's book on the subject.

Says Vishal, “I have been working on this script for seven years and it is dear to me. After Talvar, I knew that the only person who could direct it was Meghna. She has been looking for a story and the script is my gift to her for her birthday, which was on December 13. I also have several other stories that I am passionate about and I am working on them. I would like to share them with people who I love and who can do justice to them.“

IC 814 HIJACK CASE
The Indian Airlines flight 814, which was en route from Kathmandu to Delhi, was hijacked on December 24, 1999 by the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, an extremist group. The hijackers force landed the plane at Kandahar, Afghanistan, at the height of the Taliban strife. Out of 176 passengers, 27 were released while one was fatally stabbed and several others were wounded. The hostage crisis lasted for seven days and ended after India agreed to release three militants - Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and Maulana Masood Azhar. These militants have since been implicated in the 911 attacks in the US, the kidnap and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl and the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.