The upcoming Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal-starrer finally has a title. The film will be called Raazi. The news was shared on Facebook by Vicky’s father Sham Kaushal, a veteran action and stunt director.
He wrote, “By God's grace it is official now. Alia Bhatt & Vicky Kaushal to work together in RAAZI directed by brilliant Megna Gulzar & produced by Junglee Pictures & Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. May God bless the whole team (sic).”
The film is based on author Harinder S Sikka’s book, Calling Sehmat, about a Kashmiri woman, married to a Pakistani army officer, who passes on secret information to the Indian intelligence services. The story is set against the backdrop of the 1971 India-Pakistan war.
Raazi is all set to go on floors at the end of this month. Two weeks prior to this, director Meghna Gulzar had started taking workshops with the two leads, Bhatt and Vicky. As per reports, the two of them have been trained in mastering a dialect and mannerisms required for the role.
In a statement issued on signing Raazi, Vicky said: "I'm honored to be getting an opportunity to work with Meghna Gulzar and also looking forward to working with Alia, who I feel is one of the finest actresses we have at the moment. Actually, the entire team is so talented and especially to be working with Dharma Productions is rewarding for any young actor. I'll soon wrap up Raju Sir's (Rajkumar Hirani) film and begin shooting for Raazi." Vicky is currently shooting for the Sanjay Dutt biopic helmed by Hirani.
This is Gulzar’s first film after the highly acclaimed Talvar (2015) starring Irrfan Khan and Konkona Sensharma.
In her five-year-old career with a total of 10 films, this is the eighth time Bhatt wil be doing a film with Johar’s banner Dharma Productions. Her earlier films with the banner include Student Of The Year (2012), Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2013), 2 States (2014), Shaandaar (2015), Kapoor & Sons (2016), Dear Zindagi (2016) and Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017). She also played a cameo in Johar’s directorial Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016) starring Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma.