Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 26, 2016)

Rajkumar Santoshi's much-talked about romcom with Salman Khan has now been put on the backburner. The film, to be produced by Sallu's brother-in-law Atul Agnihotri, was to roll after the actor had completed Kabir Khan's upcoming drama, Tubelight. It was to re-unite the actor-director, 21 years after their cult comedy, Andaz Apna Apna, released. "But that film is not happening now and Santoshi will now be directing a film for Wave Cinemas which was locked on Group Chairman Raju Chadhaji's birthday. The subject of this film is extremely close to Chadhaji's heart and it means the world to him to see this film come alive on a large scale. Saragarhi will release next year," filmmaker-producer Rahul Mittra, CEO of Wave Cinemas, who is working with Santoshi for the prep informed Mirror. "The moment we knew that Santoshi's film with Salman was not happening immediately, we decided to roll with ours. The mahurat shot will be on September 12," Mittra adds.

Titled, Saragarhi, the plot follows the Battle of Saragarhi, which was fought on September 12, 1897, between the British Indian Army and the Afghan Orakzai tribesmen in North-West India, which we now know as the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The Indian contingent comprising 21 Sikhs of the 36th Sikhs, the 4th battalion of the Sikh regiment, was stationed at an army post when they were attacked by 10,000 Afghanis. Led by Havildar Ishar Singh, they fought till the last man before the post was recaptured, two days later, by another British Indian contingent led by Sikhs. The battle is one of history's greatest last-stands and Sikhs commemorate it every year, celebrating September 12 as Saragarhi Day.

"We will recreate the 1800s. Santoshi's knowledge of history and his sense of the era is unparalleled. We will be shooting on lavish sets with a magnum opus approach. We need 21 heroes so casting is currently being finalized. An announcement will be made soon," Mittra signs off.

Ajay Devgn and JP Dutta are also fighting the same battle for 2017

On August 19, 2015, Ajay Devgn took to Twitter to announce a sequel to his 2012 film, Son of Sardaar. He promised that it would match the scale of Hollywood war film, 300, and was based on the epic battle of Saragarhi. It added that the film would release in Diwali 2017.

Buzz is, the SOS sequel, titled Sons of Sardaar, is a five-hero film, with Ajay as the leading man. Shot on a huge budget, it will have Salman in a special appearance. A source close to the actor insisted that since the battle's landscape and expanse of the event are so vast, there is no scope of an overlapping.

Border's writer-director, JP Dutta, is also gearing up for another war film on the same subject. In an interview with Mirror (December 19, 2015) Dutta informed that he would be casting an ensemble British cast in crucial roles. "Since the story touches the relationship between the Sikh soldiers and the British officers commanding the battalion, I need a huge British involvement, an international cast and crew. I've spoken to Hugh Dancy, the Hannibal-TV star, and Remi Adefarasin, the cinematographer of Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth and Steven Spielberg's mini-series Band of Brothers. "I am in the midst of working on the logistics carefully before I can kick-start this project, as it will be made on a lavish scale," Dutta had admitted.