Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor unfazed that Abhinav Bindra biopic is in scripting stage two years after it was announced, says he'll headline romantic drama in the interim
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; January 24, 2019)

"We are currently rewriting the script," starts off Harsh Varrdhan Kapoor. Announced two years ago, the Abhinav Bindra biopic — that brings father Anil Kapoor and him together on screen for the first time — is yet to go on floors. However, the youngster is unperturbed by the delay.

"Good things always take time to brew. We are quite some time away from having a screenplay, which makes us unanimously feel that the film can now be made," says the actor. He adds that the change of hands too have taken a fair amount of time — while Vishal Bhardwaj was to initially produce it along with an established studio, Anil Kapoor's production house took complete charge of the project in late 2016.

Director Kannan Iyer and co-writer Abhay Koranne have been adapting the ace shooter's autobiography — A Shot at History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold — for the big screen over the past eight months. The actor, too, has read the book twice over and made notes for the writers. "His story is different from that of any other Indian athlete. He has grown up wealthy, his struggles are different. Plus, shooting is a psychological sport. So, one can't feel for Bindra the way they do for, say, the Phogat sisters because his struggles are internal. Kannan and Abhay are in the process of writing a story that is honest to Abhinav and his book. We can't put a timestamp on this film."

Launched in Bollywood in 2016 with Mirzya, the youngster has only two films behind him. Staying away from the big screen for such a long time can be a risky move in an industry that functions on the out-of-sight-is-out-of-mind premise. But Kapoor is unfazed. "I have always done things at my pace. Anyway, it takes one film to change things for actors. Meanwhile, I have signed three films, but I can't talk about them yet."

Willing to only reveal that one of them is a romantic drama, he adds, "It is more palatable than my other films, yet it is right up my alley."