Acclaimed filmmaker Sriram Raghavan is planning to make a biopic on 1971 Indo Pak war hero Second Lieutenant Arun Khetrapal and recently he announced the principal cast of this project. Titled ‘Ikkis’, the film was supposed to star Varun Dhawan in the lead but makers had to let him go as he was deemed too old to play a 21 year old army officer. However, Varun has no been replaced by Amitabh Bachchan’s grandson Agastya Nanda and veteran actor Dharmendra has also joined the cast.
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh took to his Twitter and Instagram handles to share the news. Sharing a group photo featuring Dharmendra, Agastya and Sriram Raghavan, he wrote, “DHARMENDRA – AGASTYA NANDA TO STAR IN SRIRAM RAGHAVAN – DINESH VIJAN’S ‘IKKIS’… Post #Badlapur, #NationalAward winning director #SriramRaghavan teams up with #DineshVijan for #Ikkis.”
For the unversed, Second Lieutenant Arun Khetrapal was alumnus of prestigious National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy. He was deployed in 1971 war soon after his commissioning in which he fought valiantly as a tank commander and made the ultimate sacrifice at the age of twenty one. He was awarded Param Vir Chakra for his gallant act and is one of the youngest people to receive this honor.
