Subhash K Jha (DNA; May 25, 2016)

Satish Kaushik is currently shooting for a film in Jharkhand and Allahabad. But he is also gearing up to return as a director with a biopic on an unusual man named Lal Bihari Mritak, a farmer from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, who was declared dead by the government for 14 years, before he could prove he was alive. Mritak, meaning the dead, was added to his name because of his official non-existent status.

Satish says he has been fascinated by the subject for years. “Can you imagine the plight of a man who must fight to prove he is alive? Can you imagine his unbroken spirit that kept him going for 14 years through his relentless pursuit of his identity?”

The filmmaker himself has been toying with the idea of a film on Lal Bihari Mritak for ten years. “Now is the time to make the film. Biopics no longer have to be about national leaders and well known achievers. Look at Sarbjit. It is about an ordinary Punjabi woman’s extraordinary courage to prove her brother’s innocence. Lal Bihari Mritak is also about a common man’s uncommon courage in validating his identity,” says Satish.

The film cannot be made with a big star. At one point, Satish wanted to make it with Abhishek Bachchan. “But then, he became a star. I’ve been thinking of casting Vicky Kaushal as Lal Bihari Mritak. But he is also a star in his own right after Masaan and Zubaan. I’ll now make the film with a completely new face,” informs Satish.