Arclight Films todayannounced that it has picked up world sales rights to Chamki, ShyamBenegal's Hindi film adaptation of Carmen.

"We have been activelylooking at projects out of India and believe that this film has the potential ofbeing a truly global film," said Gary Hamilton, managing director of Arclight."Shyam Benegal is a doyen of the Indian Film industry and this film issomething that should place Indian cinema in a truly global market."

Produced by Mumbai-based WSGPictures, Chamki is an adaptation of Carmen set in current dayRajasthan with music by AR Rahman who collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber on BombayDreams. It will star Jimmy Shergill and Urmila Matondkar and is scheduledto start shooting this winter for delivery by June 2006.

"Chamki is a tributeto the best of Indian cinema traditions, marked with the sensibilities andcultural nuances that world cinema is made of," said Sheetal V Talwar, BusinessDirector of WSG Pictures. "In hindsight it is an obvious film to make; thecolors, culture and music of Rajasthan form a near obvious backdrop to the Carmenstory."

Topics