Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan is reuniting with director Rajkumar Hirani for a biopic on Dadasaheb Phalke, the Father of Indian Cinema.
This marks their third collaboration after ‘3 Idiots’ and ‘PK’. Filming for the yet-untitled project begins in October, with Khan set to start preparations after the release of his upcoming film ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’.
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, known as Dadasaheb Phalke, was a pioneer of Indian cinema who directed ‘Raja Harishchandra’ (1913), India’s first feature film. His other notable works include ‘Lanka Dahan’, ‘Shri Krishna Janma’, and ‘Kaliya Mardan’. In 1969, India established the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour in Indian cinema, given annually at the National Film Awards for lifetime achievement.
Set against the backdrop of the independence struggle, the film follows an artist’s extraordinary journey in creating the world’s largest indigenous film industry.
Hirani, longtime collaborator Abhijat Joshi, and writers Hindukush and Avishkar Bharadwaj have spent four years developing the script.
Phalke’s grandson, Chandrashekhar Srikrishna Pusalkar, has supported the project, sharing key anecdotes from his life. VFX studios in Los Angeles have already produced AI designs reflecting the film’s era and setting.
