Film-maker defends move to cast pop diva Tina Turner as Hindu goddess

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2004

NEW DELHI (AFP) — Indian-born director Ismail Merchant has defended his move to cast rock queen Tina Turner as a Hindu goddess in a new film production following protests by religious groups.

The 63-year-old pop diva and grandmother has been signed to play Shakti, the Hindu symbol of female power and energy, in "The Goddess" to be made by Merchant and James Ivory, the Indian-Anglo duo best-known for their string of lavish period movies.

Merchant said in a letter published Friday in The Times of India, one of the nation's top-selling dailies, the protests were based on "misconceptions about the film" which was being made "in a spirit of reverence."

"Tina Turner is one of the great artists of our time and has been a practising Buddhist for the last 20 years,"...