Sonia Gandhi, nee Maino, was born into a family of modest means in a village called Orbassano, 80 km away from Turin, Italy on Dec. 9, 1946.

Sonia met Rajiv Gandhi, of the dynastic family of India, while they were both at Cambridge University, in Language school, during the 1960s. They were married in 1968 after three years of courtship.

After Indira Gandhi, was assassinated in 1984, Rajiv succeeded his mother as head of the Congress party, and was sworn in as Prime Minister of India.

In 1991, Rajiv was assassinated, and Sonia was induced to enter politics, and is credited with saving the Congress party from doom. Sonia then, as chairman of her Congress Party led them to an unexpected victory in the April-May 2004 national elections, but declined the position of  prime minister, because of objections to her "foreign status" and instead nominated her former finance minister to lead the country, that made her more revered.

Gulf Daily News
Voice of Bahrain
Tuesday, September 7, 2004

BOMBAY: For 26-year-old Indian actress Purva Parag, playing the role of one of the world's most powerful women, Sonia Gandhi, president of India's ruling Congress party, is a daunting task.

Parag spends most of her time reading books, watching the news and studying videos of Gandhi - how she walks, how she talks, how she adjusts her sari to cover her head, how she smiles and how she interacts with others.

"I am trying to see through her eyes," said Parag, who is playing the lead in a medium-budget film called "Sonia, Sonia" set for release in December.

"The film is not about Gandhi as a political person but it traces the journey of a young girl from her home in Italy to India and then to becoming the world's third most powerful woman. This journey is very important."

Last month, US business magazine Forbes declared Gandhi, 57, the world's third most powerful woman after US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Chinese Vice-Premier Wu Yi.

Gandhi won the accolade despite her refusal to become India's prime minister after having led her party to a victory in April-May national elections.

She instead nominated former finance minister Manmohan Singh to lead the country, though she remains chairwoman of the Congress-led ruling coalition.

"No other woman in recent times has been more widely revered in India than Gandhi," Forbes said.

Inspired by her growing power, filmmaker T D Kumar decided to make a film on her life story.

The feature, the first in recent years on any living Indian politician, is a "film within a film - centring around a US-based non-resident Indian who comes to India to make a film on Gandhi.

The story revolves around the shooting of that film and team's constant struggle to re-enact history. The story is laced with high-voltage politics, personal drama and love.

Kumar, who has already made a film on Gandhi's father-in-law and India's first prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, denies claims by some critics that he is beatifying her.

"There's no beatification but there is also no denying that she is the third most powerful woman in the world," he said.

"She is an enigma. She gave away the crown and I was touched by it. My film is a love story - the story of an Italian girl's love of India."

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