Filmmaker Kabir Khan isn’t quite done with sports dramas after Chandu Champion (2024). Nor is he done with the movie’s leading man Kartik Aaryan. The director called action on his next, a yet-untitled sports drama inspired by Kashmiri kickboxing prodigy Tajamul Islam, at a restaurant in Parel on March 16. While details about the actor playing the kickboxing star are kept under wraps, Aaryan will reportedly play her coach in the movie.

On the first day of the shoot, Khan filmed with a crowd of nearly 70 junior artistes at a popular Parel restaurant that was reimagined to capture the texture of a lived-in, middle-class world. Aaryan is expected to join the unit later this week.

“The early scenes are about grounding the story in everyday details. Kartik will join by the weekend. He has been training in kickboxing for the role,” said an insider.

The Mumbai stint is expected to run for roughly two weeks, after which the unit will head to Kashmir for an extensive schedule. The insider added, “A significant portion of the film unfolds in the Valley considering Tajamul Islam, the inspiration behind the movie, is from there. Kabir and his team had conducted a long recce in Kashmir in February.”

- She is India’s first and youngest two-time world kickboxing champion. 

-At seven years of age, she won the gold medal in the Under-8 category at the World Kickboxing Championship in 2016. Islam, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, repeated the feat in the Under-14 category in 2021.

- Criticizing the lack of sports facilities in Kashmir, she started her own training academy in Bandipora in 2019.