Jagmohan Mundra, who just finished directing Aishwarya Rai in "Provoked", is all set to launch "Sonia" and the buzz is that Italian actress Monica Bellucci will play the role of Sonia Gandhi.

Indian actress Preity Zinta is also said to be in the running for the role based on the Congress president's life.

Mundra said "Sonia" would be an epic love story about a woman who loved a man and then fell in love with the country in which she lived.

"As I see it, Sonia's decision to join politics that she intensely disliked was an extension of her love for Rajiv (Gandhi, the late prime minister). It was aimed at protecting the family name and restoring glory for the Congress party," Mundra told IANS.

"Sonia" is based on journalist Rasheed Kidwai's bestseller "Sonia-A Biography" (Penguin). A Britain-based company, CEE (i) TV UK, has secured the film rights for an undisclosed sum of money.

On a trip to India for the project, Mundra said he intends to cover the time period from Gandhi's journey from Orbassano to Cambridge in 1964-65 to May 2004 when she renounced the post of prime minister, stunning the nation and pulling the rug from under the feet of those harping on her Italian origin.

The film is also likely to cover her marriage, domestic life in a joint family, the birth of her children, Maneka Gandhi's entry into the family in 1974, brother-in-law Sanjay Gandhi's death, husband Rajiv Gandhi joining his mother, Maneka Gandhi's ouster from the Gandhi household and mother-in-law Indira Gandhi's assassination.

The film will also include her days as late prime minister's Rajiv Gandhi wife, his assassination, Sonia Gandhi leading a life of a political recluse for seven years, joining the Congress party in 1998 to carry the mantle of the Nehru/Gandhi legacy, her political naiveté and painstaking education eventually leading to the Congress triumph of 2004.

"Her life story is extraordinary with the hand of destiny playing an important role," said Mundra, who is known to make women-oriented films.

Mundra's about to be released film "Provoked" is the real-life story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a Punjabi woman in Britain who sets her husband on fire after suffering 10 years of domestic violence.

Ahluwalia was given life imprisonment but she was set free when the Black Sisters movement in London got the case reopened and convinced the judiciary that she had been "provoked" into murdering her husband.

Mundra has also directed "Bhawandar" (Sandstorm).

"Sonia" is incidentally a part of the British government's "Bollywood initiative", allowing British investment in Indian cinema.

The film will be shot in India, Britain and Italy. "It will be a fitting tribute to a remarkable lady and one of the biggest and most exciting cinematic projects," Mundra said.