After a five year stuggle to make her most recent film, Water, Deepa Mehta is preparing to direct a new film. Exclusion will be about a boatload of Indians refused entry into Canada in 1914.

The true story is about would-be immigrants on a Japanese ship who were turned away in Vancouver due to racist laws that targetted Asians. Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan has been signed to portray the Sikh nationalist who hires the ship and sails with hundreds of Indians with similar dreams of a better life.

Mehta is no stranger to controversy. Two days after she began Water in 2000, the sets were burned down by members of a Hindu right-wing group. The film was secretly filmed in Sri Lanka, with Mehta now nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. Mehta’s film, Fire upset many Indians for its depiction of a lesbian relationship.