Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; November 10, 2017)

While Rajkummar Rao’s web series, Bose: Dead/Alive, has raced to the finish line and even released its trailer yesterday, Kabir Khan is still to lock in the final cast of his miniseries based on Subhas Chandra Bose.

Kabir’s dilemma stems from the spot he suddenly finds himself in, after his leading man, Saif Ali Khan turned down the Amazon Prime project, given that he features in the Netflix original, Sacred Games. Saif was set to play the role of Colonel P K Sahgal, who fought for Bose-led Indian National Army. A massive set has been erected at Mumbai’s Film City studio several months in advance.

In order to abide by the plan, the crew had been informed of a shooting schedule in December, however, Kabir is yet to begin recasting. A source says, “Kabir has a packed 2018, given that he starts filming for the 1983 World Cup film, and must hence wrap this up earlier.”

The eight-part miniseries is eyeing big names for its male and female characters. Parineeti Chopra was among the top contenders for the part of Saif’s colleague-turned-wife, Lakshmi Sahgal. However, it appears that the actor will also be unable to work on the outing, given her other commitments.

Although actors are not contractually bound to stick to one video-streaming platform at any given point in time, Saif decided to turn down Kabir’s project at the behest of Netflix. “Since Sacred Games is the channel’s first Indian series, they didn’t want to entertain any conflict of interest [on the actor’s part],” says a source.