George Fernandes, Prithviraj Chauhan among new subjects for biopics

As Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Sanju is awaiting release at the end of the month, there are two more biopics that have been added to the pipeline. According to latest reports, politician Sanjay Raut is set to produce a biopic on former defense minister George Fernandes. There are also reports which suggest actor Akshay Kumar has signed on with Yash Raj Films to play the Rajput king, Prithviraj Chauhan in a biopic directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi.

The biopic on Fernandes will be the second such film on a politician in recent times. Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has already started filming for the role of Bal Thackeray in another film, Thackeray. Incidentally, the film on Fernandes will be produced by Raut, who is a well-known leader from Thackeray's political party, Shiv Sena.

In a quote to PTI, Raut revealed that the script is ready and they are already in the process of identifying a team to spearhead the film. The biopic will also be bilingual, in Hindi and Marathi.

This is not the only biopic in the pipeline. A report in the DNA newspaper suggests that Akshay has signed on for a biopic on Rajput king Chauhan. The film will be directed by Dwivedi, and produced by Yash Raj Films. The project will mark the return of Akshay to Yash Raj Films after a span of 11 years.

While there were stories suggesting that Dwivedi was directing a film on Chanakya, the famed political strategist in the Magadha empire, the latest report suggests it is not so. The report quoted a source saying that the film will be a large scale epic period film set around the legendary love story of Chauhan and Sanyukta.

However, the film is likely to go on the floors in 2019 after Akshay is finished with Hera Pheri 3. The film will also mark the first collaboration of Akshay and Yash Raj Films after Tashan (2008).

With Sanju and Soorma set to be release consecutively, and Hrithik Roshan's Super 30 under production, the industry also has Nandita Das's Manto which tackles real life characters. 2018 will also see Vijay Gutta's The Accidental Prime Minister and Reema Kagti's Gold release.

Among the sports biopics, there is Amole Gupte's biopic on badminton player Saina Nehwal, which was announced in 2017 and the as-yet untitled biopic on former professional shooter Abhinav Bindra, starring Harshvardhan Kapoor.