By: Mohnish Singh
Evergreen Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor has rubbished a media report which claimed that his ambitious project, a biopic on Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, has been shelved. In the much-awaited biopic, Kapoor stars alongside his son Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor who plays the titular role.
Refuting the news report, the Malang (2020) actor wrote on Twitter, “This is not true. Check your source.” His tweet makes it abundantly clear that the much-delayed project has not bitten the dust as claimed by the media and will resume production sooner or later.
The publication which published the report claimed that the biopic has been put into cold storage and Anil and Harsh Varrdhan are moving on to shoot another film, titled Thar. The report added that Thar, which will be directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Raj Singh Choudhary, also features Fatima Sana Shaikh on the cast and is currently being shot in Rajasthan.
For the uninitiated, the Abhinav Bindra biopic was officially announced in 2017. It is based on the former air rifle shooter’s autobiography, A Shot at History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold and Beyond.
Announcing that he was set to play Bindra in the biopic, Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor had written on his social media, “Beginnings are very special, especially when you get to play a character that has made the nation proud on the world stage. I am stoked to have been chosen to play Abhinav Bindra and hopefully will do justice to the man, the legend! Like the man himself said, “Hard work is a talent.”
After facing continuing delay in production for several years, the project finally started rolling in February, 2020. Twitting a picture with son Harsh Varrdhan and Abhinav Bindra, Anil Kapoor had written, “The beginning.” Sharing the same picture on Instagram, Sonam Kapoor wished luck to her father and brother and wrote: “This is going to be special - The Bindra biopic. All the best.”
However, weeks after the commencement of the project, the Coronavirus pandemic struck the world with all its ferocity and all shooting activities came to a grinding halt. The biopic is yet to resume production.
The Abhinav Bindra biopic is being directed by Kannan Iyer.
