When filmmaker Ritesh Sidhwani's script developing team chanced upon the story of Deepa Malik, India's first and only woman to win a medal at the Paralympic Games, and shared it with him, he was instantly bowled over and set up a meeting with the shot put winner and athlete par excellence. What was scheduled to be a 30-minute interaction turned into a five-hour discussion with Deepa narrating her journey to Ritesh. “I had watched videos of her and knew that her life story was unreal, but when I met her and she let me hold her medal, the sheer weight of the silver gave me gooseflesh. At one point in her life she had to choose between death and life in a wheelchair and she chose the latter. But as she sat in front of me, there was nothing differently-abled about her. She was empowering, a pillar of strength, and I knew that we needed to take her fight to the big screen,“ recalls Ritesh, who is now producing Deepa's biopic with partner Farhan Akhtar under their banner, Excel Entertainment.

The film is expected to go on the floors early next year. They have begun the process of documenting Deepa's journey and putting everyone on record. The casting hasn't begun, but as Ritesh points out, it will be a career-defining role for any actress as it's not only about an athlete, but also about how she became the person she is today. “It will also feature her children and husband and most definitely her hometown Haryana and her iconic win at Rio De Janeiro, among many other moments,“ Ritesh says.

Mother of two girls, Deepa, now 46, suffered from severe backache during her second pregnancy, 20 years ago. Doctors and family assumed it to be the weight gain, but even though she had a normal delivery, the pain escalated and got so bad that she couldn't bend to lift her baby. Soon after, a tumour was detected in her spinal column, which had to be operated upon immediately. The choice was between spinal paralysis and death. Her husband, veteran cavalier Colonel Bikram Singh, was away in Kargil when she got 163 stitches between her shoulder blades. And while she was warned that there would be some loss of movement post-surgery, her spinal cord was so damaged that she was rendered paralysed from the chest down. Unfazed, Deepa overcame the tumour and after 31 surgeries and 183 stitches at 26, she went on to become a state-level cricketer for Rajasthan despite paralytic shocks that had persisted since age eight. “In 2006, she took to javelin throw and then had to change her sport, one year before the Paralympics. For an event for which people train for their entire lives, she only had 12 months to learn shot put. She returned home with a silver medal in Rio,“ marvels Ritesh.

Deepa has bagged 54 golds at the national level and 13 at international levels in swimming, javelin throw and shot put. She was the first Indian to receive a license for 'invalid modified' rally vehicle after pursuing authorities for 19 months. She's with the Himalayan Motorsports Association and Federation of Motor Sports Clubs, and has undertaken an eight-day trip, with a 1700-km drive in sub-zero temperatures and an 18000-feet ascent. She was honoured with the Arjuna Award in 2012.