COLOMBO, May 2: Nuns in white robes with the hallmark blue border of the Sisters of Charity move softly from bed to bed while a foreign visitor looks in awe at the poverty-stricken, dirty and limp figures lying on them. Mother Teresa is visible in the background. Suddenly a voice booms out: CUT.

``In the Name of God's Poor'' is not big budget and is destined for a limited audience. But finally, there is to be a film on Mother Teresa -- for a new US television channel, starring Charlie Chaplin's daughter Geraldine, and scores of Sri Lankan actors made up quite convincingly to look like Calcutta's poor.

The two-hour single episode docudrama is being shot entirely in the Sri Lankan capital, at diligently created sets of Calcutta slums and streets and of Mother Teresa's Nirmal Hriday, the home for the dying and the destitute.

Based mainly on newsreel footage and various books and articles written on the woman who provided a measure of dignity and hope to the dying and destitute of Calcutta, the script of the telefilm covers the period in her life from the time she arrived in Calcutta as a young Roman Catholic nun to teach geography at a school till the time she is awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1979.

Geraldine, with her scooped out cheeks and frail frame, looks the part in the white and blue saree with a rosary dangling over it. And as shooting progresses to cover the later years, it is hoped that a clever make over will add those famous lines to her face. While Sri Lanka has been quite the ideal location for such a film there have as yet been none of the hassles or controversies that shooting in the real slums of Calcutta could have thrown up the production team prefers to play safe.

The entire project is extremely hush-hush and few details are available though journalists have been promised a press release next week, towards the end of the filming schedule.

Locations included the capital's general hospital, a warehouse converted into a poorhouse and streets in Colombo suburbs where the architecture resembles the Calcutta of old. ``It is still possible to find places here that do not have television antennas sticking out of every home, which is ideal for the period that we are trying to recreate,'' a member of the team told The Indian Express. But the piece de resistance is reported to be a rubbish dump in a Colombo suburb which has been recreated as a Calcutta slum. Shooting at this particular set has been scheduled for next week.

A documentary on Mother Teresa and shown on British TV, raised a storm over the allegations it made against her, particularly about the sources of her funds. However, ``In the Name of God's Poor'' is described as ``completely non-controversial'' and is said to have the full approval of the subject. ``Everybody, including the Church, has given their approval,'' an assistant in the production team said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.