Movie based on MH370 disappearance in the works

Film by Indian director Rupesh Paul, set for fall release, will reportedly take great liberties with its story

By AP 17 May 2014, 2:07 pm

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This photo taken Dec. 26, 2011, shows the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER that disappeared from air traffic control screens Saturday, March 8, on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. (photo credit: AP/Laurent Errera)

CANNES, France — It’s not a Hollywood production, but a movie about the Malaysian plane tragedy is in the works and should be in theaters 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. The search for the plane has made headlines worldwide.