New Delhi: Director Prabhakar Shukla says his film on Gudiya - a Muslim woman who was forced to leave her second husband when her first husband returned from a Pakistani jail - was an attempt to portray the trauma she went through before she died.

"My film Kahaani Gudiya Ki is based on the real story of Gudiya who raised the attention of the world towards her, the shariat and the tragic end," Shukla, a Mumbai-based ad filmmaker, said.

With Gudiya, Shukla is foraying into feature films. The promos are on air and the film is releasing on April 4. It is based on the real life story of Gudiya, a 26-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh who dearly loved her second husband Taufeeq and did not want to leave him when her first husband, solider Mohammad Aarif, came back in 2004. Traumatised, she finally died in 2006 in an army hospital.

Though Shukla wishes this should not happen to any other girl, he feels his film's story matches the twists and turns in the lives of Manyata and Sanjay Dutt. "This is the rare incident when a film based on real life is matching another real life incident."

Manyata married Bollywood star Sanjay in Goa on February 7 and four days later went through a Hindu marriage ceremony. However, a Mumbai court later declared their marriage null and void because she did not divorce her first husband.

"It is a matter of concern that the question raised by the Gudiya incident has not been discussed or solved yet by the government or religious authorities. There should be some clear solution to this problem so that such problems do not occur."

Shukla is confident he has been able to bring out the trauma of Gudiya in his film. "I have captured all the trauma that Gudiya went through. Everybody has spoken about the incident, but my film shows Gudiya's side of the story - what she had to say about the whole thing," he said.

The filmmaker, however, never met the woman. "I couldn't meet her but my writing team met her to get the complete details on her background, her living style and her clothes. In fact, I have the last exclusive interview of Gudiya.

"The writer of the story, Ashok Humrahi, who is a journalist, met both Gudiya and Aarif's family. She talked to them enthusiastically and was very keen to see the film. She told our writer to show her the film before releasing it."

Divya Dutta is in the title role of the film. Arif Zakaria plays the first husband and Rajpal Yadav the second. "Divya is perfect for the character. I am not saying this because she is a friend. She is a very talented actress. When I decided to make this film the first name that came to my mind was of Divya."

Shukla shot a major part of the movie in Mumbai. "The rural scenes were canned in a village called Nagothan, which is 120 km away from Mumbai."

The woman's tragic story caught the limelight when Aarif, captured by Pakistani soldiers after the 1999 Kargil war in Jammu and Kashmir, was released in August 2004. Thinking Arif had died, Gudiya was re-married by her relatives in the meantime to Taufeeq and even bore him a child. Aarif claimed her back as his wife, and Gudiya was told by elders to rejoin him.

"I feel real life cannot be changed but reel life can be changed. I think reel life should be encouraging and positive," Shukla said.