EXCLUSIVE: Varun Dhawan and Sriram Raghavan gear up to start Ekkis from February; Prep work begins
Set against the backdrop of 1971 Indo Pak war, the Dinesh Vijan production is the biopic of Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal. Detailed Report.
Varun Dhawan has wrapped up shooting for director Amar Kaushik’s monster comedy, Bhediya, which is a part of producer Dinesh Vijan’s horror universe. The young dynamite is on the verge of completing the Raj Mehta directed Jug Jug Jeeyo, with just one brief overseas schedule pending. And now, we have exclusively learnt that Varun is all gearing up to commence shooting for the ambitious Sriram Raghavan directed Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal biopic titled Ekkis produced by Dinesh Vijan.
“This is among the most ambitious projects of Varun’s career and the actor has been in prep more all through the last two years, learning more and more about the traits of an army officer. As Jug Jug Jeeyo nears completion, Varun is excited to slip into the first biopic of his career,” revealed a source close to the development, adding further that Ekkis is expected to go on floors from the month of February 2022.
From late November, Varun is expected to deep dive into acting workshops with Sriram Raghavan, which would include body language and diction training apart from learning different forms of war-based action. For those unaware, Ekkis was slated to go on floors in October 2020, however, the pandemic turned the tables for everyone involved there. The makers kept delaying the film as it would have been difficult to shoot a film of this scale with all the Covid restrictions.
“They didn’t want to compromise with the vision in any circumstances as a war hero like Arun Kheterpal deserves a fitting tribute. With vaccination drives in full swing and the on-ground scenario getting better by the day, the team of Ekkis is bullish about shooting from early 2022,” the source added. Sriram, Varun and Dinoo have previously collaborated on Badlapur, which was termed a game changer for Varun.
Apart from Ekkis, Varun also has Sajid Nadiadwala’s Sanki in his kitty, however, the shoot timeline clarity is yet awaited. He is also doing the Russo Brothers global series, Citadel for Amazon Prime with Raj and DK as the director.