New Delhi, March 30: Priyanka Chopra was convincing as an Olympic medal-winning boxer from Manipur in Mary Kom; now Bollywood is looking for a star to climb Mt Everest.
Anshu Jamsenpa, a feisty mountaineer from Arunachal Pradesh, has made it to the highest peak thrice, once in twin successes. She is preparing for another twin attempt in a bid to make it to Guinness World Records.
Anshu had scaled Mt Everest twice in nine days in May 2011. She is set to do it again this year.
Former army chief and Arunachal Pradesh governor Gen. (retd) J.J. Singh, whom Anshu considers "lucky" for her expeditions, felicitated her in Delhi last week and egged her on for the next adventure. She had met him before her first successful expedition too.
A mother of two, Anshu may not have been treated as an icon like Mary. But she caught the eye of a film producer from Hyderabad three years ago.
"I just wanted to promote her adventure then without any expectations but now we feel she can be even bigger than Mary Kom," said C. Chellam, the Hyderabad-based producer and businessman. "We are going to make a full-length feature film on her and want only the best in the industry - Anshu deserves more than she has got till now," he told The Telegraph.
Chellam said the storyline would have a "parallel": it will tell a story of Anshu's childhood and growing up years in Bomdila and how she strove to reach the top of the world. He was tightlipped on who will play the lead but indicated it would be a top star.
The mountaineer has won several awards from the government but fame as a popular icon has evaded her. "There have been no offers for endorsements for products - it is sad," said Anshu with a smile.
Chellam has stepped in to make up for her lost fame. An agency has already been appointed in Mumbai and it is understood to be approaching Sanjay Leela Bhansali to direct the film.
On who will script the film, Chellam said he wants only the best people to make a film that will be meant for a global audience. He said he would raise up to Rs 40 crore to make the film. Shooting will take place in Arunachal Pradesh, which has nearly 1,000km of the Himalayas.
The film will narrate Anshu's life story, the four years of tough work before she made it to Mt Everest and the support of her husband Tsering Wange, a skydiver and mountaineer, who was constantly by her side.
Their two daughters, Passang and Tenzin, are primed in adventure sports, but Anshu seems to be preparing them for life's adventure, not just mountaineering.
"Mountaineering is about discipline and organisation but it is more about grit and determination," she said. "The younger one seems inclined but I am not going to force anything on them," she said.
The daughters are ready to face what their mother surmounted over the years. Bhansali is expected to tell the rest of the story.