The filmmaker is set to venture into the digital world with an ambitiously-mounted mini-series that will touch upon Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 29, 2017)

After wrapping up his Salman Khan-starrer Tubelight, which is set against the 1962 Sino-Indian war and marks the Bollywood debut of Chinese actress Zhu Zhu, Kabir Khan has quietly begun work on his next. Mirror has learnt that the filmmaker is now foraying into the digital space with an international web series set during World War II that will be directed and produced by him.

“It’s a war epic, an Indian Band of Brothers (the 2001 American wardrama miniseries co-written by Tom Hanks and featuring Homeland star Damian Lewis) of sorts, which will touch upon several stories, including the contribution of women in the Indian National Army. Kabir has been working on the subject since many years and now has a screenplay ready, however, he will develop the story further only after the release of Tubelight with a team of writers,” informs a source close to the development.

“Kabir is extremely excited about this mega project with a scale and budget that will be way higher than any of his films till date. It will mostly be a nine to 10-episode series to be shot extensively abroad with some portions set in India and will feature actors and technicians from all over the world but Kabir will begin casting only after the release of Tubelight,” says the source, adding that Kabir is currently focused on the post-production of his upcoming Salman Khan-starrer.

After working as a cinematographer on Gautam Ghosh’s documentary film, Beyond The Himalayas, Kabir had made his own directorial debut with a documentary, The Forgotten Army, which was based on Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army. The film dates back to the time when 70,000 Indians had waged a war against the British Empire and contains rare footage from the war in Burma. The TV series had gone on to win the Grand Jury Award at the South Asian Film Festival in Kathmandu in 1998 and was then screened at film festivals abroad. Kabir had followed up his debut success with two more documentaries before foraying into mainstream Hindi cinema with the John Abraham-Arshad Warsi-starrer Kabul Express in 2006. He then made more box office hits like New York, Ek Tha Tiger and Bajrangi Bhaijaan.