Earlier this month, Randeep Hooda began filming SwatantryaVeer Savarkar, near Wai, Maharashtra. While he plays the freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in front of the camera, he’s also making his debut behind the camera, as director of the biopic.

While Mahesh Manjrekar was to initially direct the film, he had to opt out due to his other work commitments. Producer Anand Pandit confirms that the scheduling issues cropped up due to the weight-loss process that Hooda had to undergo. “Randeep had lost 18 kilos, but he wanted to shed a few more to look the part. We discussed the idea of making him look leaner in the post-production, but eventually decided to go with his decision.”

They decided against roping in another director because they wanted to meet their date with the audience on May 26, which aligns with Veer Savarkar’s 140th birth anniversary. “Also, it would take another director a while to align with our vision, and execute the making accordingly. Randeep has researched extensively on the revolutionary, and has also written the biopic along with Utkarsh Naithani.”

After wrapping up the shoot near Wai, the team will film a schedule in Mumbai, and another in London. Asked if they will film in prison in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where Savarkar was lodged, Pandit is non-committal. He says, “Over the decades, that jail has been refurbished. So, it doesn’t look like what it used to be when Savarkar was serving his sentence there. We’ll be recreating that prison in a studio in Mumbai.”