A nightclub with belly dancers in Bulgaria may seem a long way off from the sea around Malta but that is where the long journey undertaken by Indian and Pakistani asylum seekers (those at least who did not end up drowned on Christmas Eve so many years ago) finally ends.

A film about the Malta boat tragedy is being shot in India and is scheduled for release in February next year.

Writing in Screen India, Deepa Karmalkar described scenes from the shooting of Ammtoje Mann’s Kaafila with Sunny Deol, along with his Pakistani co-star Sana Nawaz who plays Alvira, an Afghan rebel. The film also has Sufi-Punjabi singer Sukhwindra. Sunny Deol plays a Rajasthani guy ferrying illegal immigrants.

“What appealed to me about the film was the subject of illegal immigrants and their crushed dreams. It is inspired by the real incident of the Malta boat tragedy. They face so many hardships en route, I hope the film will dissuade people from resorting to illegal immigration,” he stressed.

So what about the disco, and what about Bulgaria? The dimly lit, dark wooden interiors of the erstwhile disco just out of Mumbai have been festooned to look like a club somewhere in Bulgaria where the caravan of illegal immigrants has arrived, in their quest of a coveted and blood-costly visa.