In a crucial election year, filmmaker Omung Kumar is gearing up to helm a biopic on Indian prime minister Narendra Modi with actor Vivek Oberoi stepping up as the lead.
The news was announced today, 4 January, online, by trade analyst Taran Adarsh. The filmmaker retweeted the announcement.
The film will begin shooting mid-January and the first look of the film will be unveiled on 7 January 2019 by the chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis. It is unclear what the aspects of the prime minister’s life the film will focus on. Reportedly, the film is due to be released in 23 languages across India.
Oberoi, who has also shot for the web-series Cartel and the second season of Inside Edge, has roles in the Malayalam film Lucifer (2019) and the Telugu film, Vinaya Vidheya Rama (2019). His last Hindi film was 2017’s Bank Chor with Riteish Deshmukh.
Art director-turned-filmmaker Kumar has directed two biopics previously — Mary Kom (2014) on the life of the celebrated boxer, and Sarbjit (2016), the story of an ordinary Indian man who accidentally crosses the Pakistani border and is jailed as a spy.
Modi is up for re-election this year and the general elections will be held from March to April for the Lok Sabha.