Rajkumar Santoshi once started shooting a movie about the 1897 Battle of Saragarhi, which involved Afghan and British soldiers. There were thousands of Afghan warriors fighting alongside the British, who only had 21 Sikhs and who refused to surrender to the Afghans.
Randeep Hooda played the commander of the Sikh army in Santoshi’s film. For his appearance in the movie, the actor put a lot of effort. The creation of Karan Johar’s film Kesari, based on the same narrative and starring Akshay Kumar as the Sikh leader, prevented the movie from being finished.
As a result of his dissatisfaction with how Kesari handled the situation, Santoshi has now indicated his wish to make a new movie based on the same event. During a conversation with Indian Express he said, “I had announced a film called Battle of Saragarhi. Unfortunately (it didn’t work out). I shot for twenty days. It was a war film but another film (Kesari) on the same subject was announced with Akshay Kumar and Karan Johar. So, my financiers and I discussed the issue and they got a little worried and backed out. Now next year I’ll do a film on the same subject because I feel that they have not done justice to the subject and it is a great subject.”
When asked if Randeep will return as the movie’s star, Santoshi responded, “Let’s see when the investors come and how much the film will cost. Randeep is a very dedicated actor; very hard working and committed to the subjects of his films. For two years, he grew his hair and beard and became a sardar for the film. Very rarely you come across an actor like him, someone who is good and hardworking at the same time. I want to do a good film with him in the future.”
On the work front, Gandhi Godse: Ek Yudh, Santoshi’s upcoming movie, will be released in theatres on January 26th this year.