Kaif may play British teen

Katrina Kaif ... identified for the role of Scarlett. – AFP

AN Indian director is hoping that Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif will play the role of Scarlett Keeling – the 15-year-old British girl whose bruised, half-naked body was found on a beach in the western state of Goa in February – in his new film.

Prabhakar Shukla said he wanted to show the seedier side of India’s beach paradise through the film titled Rave Party.

Fiona McKeown, Scarlett’s mother, expressed her reservations about the proposed film, which she feared would portray Scarlett in a bad light, rather than highlighting her killers and the police who allegedly tried to cover their tracks.

A British newspaper quoted McKeown as saying recently that it was far too soon to be thinking about a film about Scarlett’s life. “She hasn’t even been buried yet,” she had said then.

Scarlett’s body was found on Feb 18 on the popular Anjuna beach.

Scarlett Keeling on the Anjuna beach in Goa, India, a few days before her death in February after an all-night drinking and drug session. – AFP

Shukla, however, defended his project.

“The film will, of course, be commercial in the Bollywood sense. Singing and dancing always enhances the story. But the moving story of Scarlett’s death will also be there.

“I want to show the public what is happening in Goa – the drug racket that’s going on at the vacation spot, and how people are slowly getting addicted and ruining their lives,” he explained.