Jesus Christ gets an evil twin in fantasy film

By Tony Tharakan

PANAJI, India (Reuters) - There's no mention of him in the Bible but the plot of a fantasy film set in India gives Jesus Christ a twin brother -- and an evil one at that.

German filmmaker Robert Sigl's "The 13th Disciple" is still in the planning stage but producer Mario Stefan is in India's western tourist state of Goa trying to attract an Indian co-producer for the project.

"It's a fantasy-adventure film and takes place completely in present-day India," Stefan said on the sidelines of the 38th International Film Festival of India, which opened over the weekend.

The story traces the journey of two German archaeologists looking for evidence that Jesus visited India.

The researchers, who are twins themselves, find that Jesus had an evil twin brother who is reincarnated in the present as the scheming head of a religious sect.

Sigl's script had been lying around for several years after the original producer died in an accident, Stefan said.

Filming for the project, expected to cost about 5 million euros ($7.4 million), will take place mainly in the northern Indian Hindu holy city of Varanasi and the southern state of Kerala in the second half of next year.

The cast of the film will be mostly Indian.