Bollywood director to bring Woolmer death to screen

Pakistan's coach Bob Woolmer puts his team through their paces during a training session near Port of Spain, in this March 8, 2007 file photo. A leading Bollywood director has decided to make a film based on the mystery surrounding the death of Woolmer at this year's World Cup, an Indian newspaper reported on Monday.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A leading Bollywood director has decided to make a film based on the mystery surrounding the death of cricket coach Bob Woolmer at this year's World Cup, an Indian newspaper reported on Monday.

Mahesh Bhatt, known for his sensitive human dramas, plans to explore the death of the coach that shook the cricket world though a love story set against the backdrop of the game, the Hindu said. The film is to be titled "Jannat" (Paradise).

"I'm definitely making the film on the entire Woolmer episode though we will not name him anywhere in the story," Bhatt was quoted by the daily as saying.

"We are using a fictional situation, but the people will see the obvious connection."

"The film is not just about the coach's death," he said. "It is a love story against the backdrop of cricket. There is betting, there is match fixing. And because it is a love story there have to be songs too."

Bhatt expects to start filming in August.

Woolmer, 58, was found dead on March 18, a day after Pakistan was eliminated from the World Cup in Jamaica following a shock defeat by debutants Ireland.

He was found unconscious in his hotel room and pronounced dead in hospital. Jamaican police initially said he was strangled in a case that is still shrouded in mystery.

Speculation about his death has included suggestions he had uncovered a match-fixing scandal, that he was killed by a supporter with a grudge or that he had been the target of a fatwa.

The former England all-rounder had hugely successful coaching stints with South Africa and English county side Warwickshire before he took over the Pakistan job.

India's glitzy Bollywood film industry reels out a large number of mushy love stories filled with song-and-dance routines, but is increasingly turning to true stories for inspiration.