Suddenly two of India’s most celebrated filmmakers are keen on making a bio-pic on the founding father of Indian cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke.
Raj Kumar Hirani is all set to make the Dadasaheb biopic with Aamir Khan, while down South, the redoubtable S S Rajamouli is prepping to tell the Phalke saga with NTR Jr. in the eponymous role.
The almost simultaneous timing of the two biopics on a man who was born 155 years ago seems more than a coincidence.
Sources close to the development have some somewhat startling details on the double Dadasaheb aspirations.
According to a source close to the development, Rajamouli was planning his biopic for more than two years. “Then he suddenly hears that Aamir Khan and Raju Hirani are doing it. This came as a shock to Rajamouli, and not a pleasant one. This is not the first time Rajamouli’s ambition was in the danger of being trumped by Aamir Khan. Right after Baahubali, Rajamouli wanted to do his version of the Mahabharat. Then he suddenly heard that Aamir was doing the Mahabharat. Rajamouli dropped his Mahabharat plan and moved to RRR, only to realize that Aamir had aborted his Mahabharat project. This time Rajamouli won’t backtrack.”
In fact, Aamir’s sudden desire to play Dadasaheb Phalke has taken the entire film industry by surprise. His close friends say he was keen to do something “light and frothy” after Sitaare Zameen Par.
Several notable filmmakers who wish to remain unnamed feel Dadasaheb Phalke should be played by a Marathi actor.
“Ideally, it should have been Dr Shreeram Lagoo or Vikram Gokhale. Sadly, they are no longer with us. Neither Aamir nor NTR Jr is culturally or physically correct for the part of Dadasaheb Phalke,” says a prolific Marathi filmmaker who has made films in Hindi and Marathi.
Interestingly, Dadasaheb has already been played brilliantly by Marathi actor Nandu Madhav in 2009 in Paresh Mikashi’s Marathi masterpiece Harishchandrachi Factory. Anything after would be akin to the Mahatma Gandhis that came after Ben Kingsley on Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi.
