After Ranveer Singh brought the historical and complex life of the legendary Peshwa, Bajirao, alive on screen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Bajirao Mastani (2015), another legendary Maratha warrior is set to get the biopic treatment. Actor Ajay Devgn revealed the first poster of his upcoming biopic on Tanaji Malusare, one of Shivaji's great generals.
The film, titled Taanaji: The Unsung Warrior, is set to be released in 2019.
Tanaji Malusare was one of Shivaji's most trusted lieutenants, and a key force as Shivaji established the Maratha empire in the seventeenth century. The general cemented his name in the annals of Maratha history during the conquest of the Sinhagad fort against the Mughal army. Despite fatal blows, Malusare held on to his position till the victory of the Marathas was announced. His eventual death was mourned by Shivaji in the now famous phrase 'Gad aala pan sinha gela' (The fort was won, but we lost a lion).
The poster shows Devgn, in costume as the warrior, battling a shower of arrows on the ramparts of a fort. It also has an important motif in the form of the monitor lizard, shown by Devgn's character. The legend goes that Malusare used monitor lizards to help scale the walls of the impregnable fort.
Devgn's film will be produced by Viacom18 Pictures with Om Raut set to direct the venture. Raut had previously directed another Marathi biopic on the freedom fighter, Lokmanya Tilak, Lokmanya Ek Yugpurush (2015).
Devgn is currently awaiting the release of Milan Luthria's Baadshaho on 1 September, and also is a part of the Rohit Shetty franchise, Golmaal Again, which will be releases in October this year.