According to The Times of India, Bharat Bala’s upcoming martial arts film The 19th Step, starring Tadanobu Asano and rising Indian star Asin Thottumkal has been tentatively put on hold for the time being. Sources close to the Walt Disney production cite creative differences between the director and one of the film’s stars, but there’s been no word on which star that might be. There probably won’t be an official announcement about this production hiccup because the film itself hasn’t even been officially announced yet.

Unfortunately this isn’t the first bit of bad news on the 19th Step front. Last week MyNews reported that Asin injured her right leg while practicing Kalarippayattu (the ancient martial art used in the film) and refused to take any allopathic medicines due to her upbringing. Then earlier this week, Yahoo! India Movies reported that concern over swine flu sidelined plans to shoot part of the movie in Japan and that Asano would instead travel to India to shoot everything there. South Indian superstar Kamal Haasan was originally rumored to be involved in the project, but that apparently is no longer the case—if it ever was to begin with.

The film, which was originally planned to be completed by the end of this year with an eye toward an early 2010 release, is a multicultural Japan/India co-production which traces the origin of all martial arts to the ancient South Indian fighting style of Kalarippayattu. Asin plays a princess named Lakshmi who teaches the style to a Japanese samurai warrior named Kenji (Asano) in an effort to purge his soul of a murderous past. The title is a reference to the typical 18 steps a student must go through to master Kalarippayattu, with a mystical 19th step that few can ever hope to attain. Kenji eventually reaches this step by harnessing the power of a deadly sword called urumi.

Thanks to logboy for cluing me in to this film when it was still in the early rumor stages.

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Tags: tadanobu asano, the 19th step