Director J P Dutta on reuniting with Abhishek Bachchan, who he launched in Refugee
Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; June 17, 2017)

During the 20th anniversary celebrations of his National Award-winning film Border last week, veteran filmmaker J P Dutta announced his next, Paltan. “It's time to tell a new story, to tell another part of the history of our country and salute more real life heroes,” Dutta said.

While the makers are guarding the details at this point, we have learnt an ensemble cast is being put together and will be headlined by Abhishek Bachchan. Dutta had launched the actor in his 2000 film, Refugee, alongside another newcomer — Kareena Kapoor Khan.

While Junior Bachchan took to Twitter to announce the news, Dutta told mid-day, “We casually chatted about the project [at the reunion bash] and he immediately agreed to be part of it. He is a wonderful actor, who always aims to do something different. From Yuva (2004) to Guru (2007) and Dostana (2008), he has done a fine job and can pull off any role. I am really happy to have him in my team.”

Dutta plans to hire Rajinikant’s stylist to etch out the actor’s look in the film, “He plays an Army General and we want to get his look spot-on. I can’t reveal much at this point, but yes, we are in talks with some stylists down South,” he added.