Even as Satluj, based on human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, remains banned, director Honey Trehan has turned his attention to his next passion project. The filmmaker has spent the past few years developing a biopic on legendary Punjabi poet and writer, Shiv Kumar Batalvi, and hopes to take the film on floors by the year-end. The big question then is: who will play the late poet?

As much as he would want his Satluj leading man Diljit Dosanjh to portray the role, that won’t be a possibility. “I really wish Diljit could play Shiv, but there is a technical problem. Shiv was a chain-smoker, and I can’t get Diljit to smoke cigarettes,” shared the director.

That said, the actor and musician will be part of the biopic in some capacity or the other. Trehan added, “Diljit will do something in the film, I don’t know what yet. He is such a pure soul. I want to have him [on the project] just for the right vibe.”

To develop the screenplay, the director travelled extensively across Punjab and met people who knew Batalvi personally. The result — he has created an intimate portrait of the poet, who was known for his poems on love, separation, and longing.

“I met such great people who are in their 90s; someone has an oxygen mask, someone is bedridden. But when you speak to them about Shiv, they get teary-eyed. They take pride that they were so close to Shiv, and that finally somebody is making [a film] on him.”