The actor is reuniting with director Jagan Shakti for the official Hindi remake of AR Murgadoss’s 2014 Tamil Vijay-starrer Kaththi
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 30, 2019)

After working as an assistant director on Cheeni Kum, Paa, English Vinglish, Thuppakki and Holiday, Jagan Shakti was to make his directorial debut with the official Hindi remake of A R Murugadoss’s Tamil film, the Vijay-starrer Kaththi. Titled Ikka, the action thriller had Akshay Kumar in a double role. Jagan reveals that the project was put on the backburner when he came across the underdog story of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientists, which culminated in Mission Mangal. “But now Ikka will go on the floors very soon,” he promises, adding that the subject is close to his heart and the team is currently reworking the script. “It will resonate with the underprivileged section of the society. With my second directorial, I want to explore action which is presented in a sleek way.” The 2014 original featured Vijay as the protagonist who fights to protect the rights of poor farmers from greedy MNCs.

Meanwhile Jagan (left) is lining up for his Independence Day release, Mission Mangal, fronted by Akshay, with Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha, Taapsee Pannu, Nithya Menen, Kirti Kulhari and Sharman Joshi in pivotal roles. According to the director, it was a photograph of men and women giving the thumbs up to mark the success of the Mars Orbiter Mission (MoM) that planted the seed of the story in his mind. “The simplicity of the scientists in that iconic image made me realise that the story had the potential for a great human drama,” Jagan smiles.

His elder sister, Sujatha Krishna, who is a scientist at ISRO, arranged for interactions with her colleagues as part of the detailed research. “She followed protocol to get me in and while she didn’t contribute to the screenplay, I did take some technical help from her while filming,” he reveals.

Nikkhil Advani, in an interview to Mirror (July 29), had revealed that he plans to bring the memoirs of Dr K Radhakrishnan, the former chairman of ISRO and the man behind Mangalyaan, to the big screen. Quiz Jagan on this, and he says, “Our story may be based on a true event, but the characters are fictional. I went into the project thinking I would model the lead characters on one or two people who would have been responsible for the mission, but I discovered that the team was made up of a lot more scientists. We didn’t want to glorify only one set of people, so the personal story of each of the central character is fictionalised,” he explains, further clarifying, “Akshay sir plays the mission director and not the (ISRO) chairman. His character is unique and at the center of the mission. That said, the success of the mission cannot be credited to one person alone,” Jagan signs off.