Sameer Nair On Joining Hands For A Biopic On Ashok Chakra Awardee

It looks like war heroes are the heroes of 2021. The  most recent entrant into the valorous   club  are topnotch  producer Applause Entertainment(Criminal Justice, Scam 1992) who have joined hands  with Drishyam Entertainment(Masaan , Ankhon  Dekhi)  to co-produce Iftikhar  a bio-pic  on  Ashok Chakra winner Major Mohit Sharma

We can safely  say this  will be a ‘Major’ bio-pic.

Speaking on  the  project,Sameer Nair CEO of  Applause Entertainment says, “We had bought rights from co-authors Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh for the  stories of war  heroes from their book Fearless: Military  Stories and Fearless 2: More Military Stories . From these we  had filmed Avrodh  Season 1  which was based on  the Uri attack, we  had a good experience with that. The  subject  of  national security fascinates me endlessly. No matter how  many stories we  do on war heroes,  it’s still not enough.I don’t think we  can  be proud enough of  the armed forces and police  forces . No matter how many films  we make  on them it’s still not enough.”

 Sameer  is supremely  gung-ho on this  project.“The  story of Major Mohit Sharma is uplifting and empowering . It’s an incredible story of  valour and  dedication beyond the call of duty. We  bought the rights of this story a year ago. When Munish Mundra of Drishyam Films expressed a  desire to  work on this project with us, I straightaway agreed.”

 So are collaborations the way  ahead?  “Yes, I think so . The business  of  filmmaking is itself collaborative . We  can only up the stakes when likeminded sorted minds  come together.”

Are  bio-pics the flavor of the year? Sameer  feels they are.  “That feeling of ‘If he or she can do it, so can I’   is  a great way to  enjoy  the movie-going  experience.Which is  not to say fictional heroes are not popular . Of course they are and they always will be. But at the moment real-life heroes do have an edge. And when it comes to national security , stories of  real-life heroes acquire an even larger validation.”

 The cast  and other details for Iftikhar are yet to be decided. Sameer  hopes to  start  the  film in September.

Would  it be  for  the  OTT platform or the  big screen?

“I don’t think cinema can be  segregated between the   OTT and theatres.The audience  and appreciation are the same on both platforms. Our Scam 1992 got the appreciation  of  any film released  in theatres.With 900 million mobile phones out there  it’s all the  same audience now I think there are  only two kinds of cinema,  good and bad.And I  think Iftikhar  falls into the  good category. We at Applause Entertainment  are happy to be collaborating with Drishyam Films and the  co-authors Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh.”