Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; September 20, 2017)

After Hrs reported that a big studio was planning a biopic with Sushant Singh Rajput. Now, we have the details on the film.

An insider from the team reveals, “The biopic is on the life of wrestler Dalip Singh Rana, better known as Khali or The Great Khali in WWE circle. The studio has spoken to the Punjabi wrestler and he has given them the rights to make a film on his life. Sushant has been approached to play the titular role and he has in principle agreed to do the film.”

The unexplored Khali
Like Sushant’s last biopic, Dhoni — The Untold Story, this one too will explore the life of Khali, beyond the public eye. The source adds, “People only know about the sporty side of this Indian-born American semi-retired professional wrestler, promoter and actor. But there’s an untold story behind his super success. He was an officer for the Punjab state police and struggled for years before making it big in wrestling. The story will be about his journey.”

No resemblance
This is the third biopic Sushant has greenlit. He played MS Dhoni in his biopic last year and has also signed on to do a film on Paralympic gold medalist Murlikant Petkar. It remains to be seen how makers will make SSR fit into Khali’s frame of — seven ft one inch and weighing 157 kilos. A trade anyalst argues, “What worked in Sushant’s favour during Dhoni was that he looked, walked and talked like MSD. Here, Sushant has no similarities with Khali when it comes to his body prototype and his height. Unless there’s a lot of VFX involved, it’s difficult to pull off a film on Khali. No hero in Bollywood will look convincing as The Great Khali, unless there’s CGI.”