Producer Sanjay Raut on kicking off Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer Thackeray sequel mid-year
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; February 13, 2019)

Member of Parliament and Thackeray producer Sanjay Raut had promised at the outset that the Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer - a biopic on the late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray - will be a two-part affair.

Encouraged by the positive response that the Abhijit Panse-directed venture earned, the team has already dived into the pre-production of the sequel. Buzz suggests that Siddiqui, who is currently shooting for Honey Trehan's Raat Akeli, will slip into the role again by mid-year.

"Nawaz Bhai's support has emboldened us to kickstart the second part soon after. He will make time for us when the film goes on floors," begins Raut. "We simultaneously wrote the script [of the second edition]. The first part ends at an interesting point," he adds, referring to Thackeray's trial that investigated his role in the 1992 Mumbai riots. It is heard that the next edition will open with the controversial chapter and go on to trace the years after, up to his death in 2012. "A lot has happened in his personal and professional life then on. It will be a vast story encapsulating his later life."

In the first part, the makers were accused of skimming through the Babri Masjid demolition and the Mumbai riots. But Raut insists that he will "maintain the fearless approach" in the narrative. "Journalism students have reached out to me to use the biopic as material for their work. Young people from UP and Bihar have discussed the film with me. Thackeray was a controversial man with a set of ideologies that are open to criticism. To show him for what he was required gumption. We will maintain our fearless approach in making a movie that does justice to him in the true sense."