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EXCLUSIVE: Post Katrina Kaif, Vijay Sethupathi’s Merry Christmas, Sriram Raghavan to revive Ikkis; Read Deets
Andhadhun director Sriram Raghavan is finally reviving the Arun Kheterpal biopic four years after its announcement. The pre-production has begun, and shooting begins in October 2023.
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Amitabh Bachchan's grandson Agastya Nanda has replaced Varun Dhawan to play Arun Kheterpal's role
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Agastya to play Arun Kheterpal, while Dharmendra will essay his father in this film
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Agastya Nanda is undergoing intense physical transformation to get into the skin of Kheterpal
In October 2019, filmmaker Sriram Raghavan and producer Dinesh Vijan of Maddock Films announced a movie based on the life of the youngest Param Vir Chakra recipient, Arun Khetrpal, with Varun Dhawan taking on the lead role. The film, titled Ikkis, was supposed to mark Raghavan and Dhawan’s second collaboration after 2015’s critically acclaimed crime drama, Badlapur. However, the movie was indefinitely delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic that brought the whole world to a standstill for months. Dhawan later opted out of the project, saying he wasn’t convinced to play a 21-year-old character, delaying the film further. Almost four years after the announcement, Raghavan is finally gearing up to take it on floors with a fresh cast.
Pinkvilla has exclusively learnt that Sriram Raghavan has started working on the pre-production of Ikkis and will kick off shooting in the second week of October. Amitabh Bachchan’s grandson Agastya Nanda will now be playing the role of second Lieutenant Arun Kheterpal, and he will be joined by veteran actor Dharmendra, who will play the role of his on-screen father in this film. "The Arun Kheterpal biopic has been a passion project for Raghavan, who has been working on it since 2018. After numerous delays over the years, he is finally starting this film with Agastya and Dharam Ji. They will shoot their major portions together in October and November, following which the makers will head to film the 1971 Indo-Pak war sequences with Agastya. A six-month-long shooting schedule has been planned for this biographical drama," a source close to the development told us.
Agastya Nanda is apparently undergoing intense physical transformation to get into the skin of Arun Kheterpal, who attained martyrdom at the age of 21 during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. He has already started the training at army camps and is also working on his body language before the shoot for Ikkis commences. Sriram Raghavan is also leaving no stone unturned to bring Kheterpal’s story to the big screen as authentically and sincerely as possible. Many military personnels have been brought on board to assist them with research and preparation to assure legitimacy with the presentation.
Ikkis will mark Agastya Nanda’s second film after his yet-to-be-released debut vehicle, The Archies. Agastya will make his acting debut alongside Suhana Khan and Khushi Kapoor in this Zoya Akhtar-directed Netflix dramedy, set to premiere later this year. Sriram Raghavan, meanwhile, is next gearing up for the release of Merry Christmas, starring Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi in the lead. The romantic thriller is scheduled to hit cinemas on December 15 in Hindi and Tamil.
We reached out to the representatives of Maddock Films for confirmation. However, we are yet to hear back from them.
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