Known for his larger-than-life sets for films like Black and Saawariya, production designer Omung Kumar made his directorial debut two years ago with Mary Kom, a biopic on the Indian boxer, which won him many awards and accolades. The National Award-winning filmmaker is now gearing up for the release of his next film, Sarbjit, based on the life of the slain Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh.Calling the Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Randeep Hooda and Richa Chadha-starrer his most ambitious venture, the director reveals why he decided to make another biopic. Excerpts:

You had initially refused to make a film on Sarabjit Singh. Why?
After Mary Kom, I had decided not to make a biopic again as I didn't want to be known as a director who only makes such films. I had a few other scripts lined up but after the National Awards last year, producer Sandeep Singh brought Sarbjit's script to me. I heard the story in brief but refused to do anything with it. Later, I left for Malaysia to attend an award function. However, I was constantly thinking about the script and started watching the videos of Dalbirji (Sarabjit's sister) on the Internet. I was shocked to see how this feisty lady took up the challenge to release her brother from a Pakistan jail. I read the script again and agreed to do the film.

How was your first meeting with Dalbir Kaur?
It was emotional. I remember Dalbirji walking into my office where I was sitting with my wife and the film's writers. Slowly, we started talking to her and noted down all the points that we needed to cover in the film. Her family has gone through a lot of trauma so while narrating the stories she would often break down and we could feel their pain. We would stop the conversation and come back to it. My wife and I also took Dalbirji for a movie to brighten up her mood. Later, I also went to Sarabjit's village and met people there, spoke to his friends and the prisoners who had been in jail with him. I met journalists, army officers and diplomats, too, who provided us with any additional information about him.

It must have been an emotional experience for her to be on the film's set.
Dalbirji was present on the first day when we were shooting the jail sequence. It was a haunting experience for her. The setting was similar to real life and we saw tears in her eyes. After some time, her blood pressure shot up and she left. She later visited the set when we were shooting at Wagah border and Punjab.

What was your biggest challenge while making this film?
It was to show Sarabjit and his family's 23-year long journey in just two hours and 12 minutes. I had to streamline the entire story and ensure that the audience isn't loaded with unnecessary information. Sarabjit and his family went through a lot of ordeal. Right from the Kargil War to the Parliament attack and even the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, many important incidents have been depicted on screen. Making this film has been an emotional journey for me. So many times during the shoot, we would see someone from the crew crying as everyone was so emotionally involved in it.

Was Aishwarya your first choice for the film?
Yes, she was the first actress I had approached and she agreed to do the film within 15 minutes. I knew many people would raise objections about casting Aishwarya as she is younger than Dalbirji and has a glamorous onscreen persona, but I was ready for the challenge. I wanted to cast an actress who could pull off being a 22-year-old and a 60-year-old with equal ease. There are very few actors who could do that.

During Mary Kom, you had said that it was a commercial decision to cast Priyanka Chopra. Did the same hold true for Aishwarya as well?
Yes. I knew that Aishwarya is a big star and casting her would help us reach out to as many people as possible in India and across the world.

Is it true that Dalbir recommended Randeep Hooda's name for Sarabjit's role?
We had a few names including Randeep Hooda in mind. When I discussed it with Dalbirji, she told me that Sarabjit's daughters were keen on him playing the title role. I was also convinced with their choice. Randeep is a fantastic actor and this is the toughest role of his career. The first thing I told him was that he had to lose weight. He lost 28 kgs in 18 days. That's when we shot the portions where he had to look thin. Then, I told him he had to put on weight within 20 days and look like a wrestler. His physical transformation will leave the audience stunned. In order to understand Sarabjit's pain, Randeep also set up a 6x4 feet mock prison in his house where he spent his entire day, fully chained, with minimum supply of food.

Be it Mary Kom or Sarbjit, your actors have gone through a drastic physical transformation.
I don't want my actors to look like their real self - I want to make them the character that I want for the film. That is what I made Priyanka Chopra do in Mary Kom. She had never gone to a gym but she did a biopic on a boxer! Look at the makeover that Aishwarya and Randeep have gone through for Sarbjit. Their characters look real. When I write a film, I write it with the intention that it should be the actor's best role for life.

Are you happy with the way the film has shaped up?
For the longest time Dalbirji wanted to make a film on this subject and I am glad that we have managed to do it. She is happy that people will finally get to know the truth. When we started this project, my only wish was that even if one Indian prisoner who has been wrongly convicted is released from a Pakistan jail then we have achieved the film's purpose. Our intention is to show the reality to the world and bring about a change in the society.

Anjuri Nayar Singh (HINDUSTAN TIMES; September 3, 2015)

Many celebrities are guarded about what they say, but not actor Sonakshi Sinha. The 28-year-old, who recently urged people on Twitter to stop making jokes on murder victim Sheena Bora and posted an apology to Delhi boy Sarvjeet Singh, accused of allegedly molesting Delhi University student Jasleen Kaur, talks about how people hide behind the anonymity on social networking sites and how she does not fear being trolled online.

While celebrities are often guarded when it comes to talking about issues, you have spoken up for Sheena Bora as well as Sarabjit Singh. What was the thought process behind this?
I don’t say anything about things that are not my business, unless I feel it’s the right thing to do and unless I feel strongly about it. I was shocked at how people were making jokes about a young girl (Sheena Bora) who lost her life. I found it really insensitive, and that’s why I spoke about it. People think they can say anything they want on social media. A sane person would not dare say stuff like that in real life. With Sarabjit, I, like many others, was swayed by what was being written and said about him, and gave Jasleen the benefit of doubt just because she’s a girl. I realised later that I shouldn’t have jumped the gun, and immediately apologised. I didn’t do anything great, it was just the right thing to do.

While we have always seen you speak your mind online, a lot of celebrities have also spoken up about being trolled on Twitter. What are your thoughts on that?
Rationality, etiquette and manners go out the window when it comes to saying things online. If a person says the kind of things people say online in real life, they will be branded rude, obnoxious, psychotic and probably be outcasts. People have found a really nice veil of anonymity online, that gives them the liberty of being complete and utter douchebags.

We have heard you sing on quite a few platforms now. Would you consider playback singing for any of your films?
I like to sing — it’s a hobby, just like how I love to dance. I would definitely like to explore it in the near future. Let’s see where it goes.

In terms of work, would you say that you are a workoholic or are you someone who can maintain a nice balance between work and personal life?
I am someone who likes to believe that I am very balanced, but I am a hopeless workoholic.

You were recently in the US for a while. How important is it to take these breaks to rejuvenate?
I was actually there for work! I was travelling in the States for a show. I get such little time off that I like to club my holidays with work, otherwise I wouldn’t get to see the world at all! So, before my tour, I took a short break of four days in New York, and took some time off in San Francisco.

Dalbir Kaur, 61, is the older sister of Sarbjit Singh, a farmer from Bhikhiwind in Punjab (just 5 kms away from the Indo-Pakistan border), who in 1990 while farming, inadvertently, crossed over to Pakistan after having a couple of drinks, got mistaken as an Indian spy and was given capital punishment in 1991 but was not hanged. He was kept in the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore for 23 years, before he was killed by inmates a few days after the death of Afzal Guru in India. During his 23 years in jail, his sister Dalbir Kaur, who treated him more like her son than her brother, got to meet him only thrice in jail and made it her life's agenda to get him released. While she finally did not succeed in getting him released, she is determined to reach his real story to the world through a film titled Sarbjit being made based on his life that is being directed by Omung Kumar (has earlier directed Mary Kom). The story of Dalbir's battle and finally defeat for not being able to bring her brother back alive is not just touching but heartbreaking. We have exclusively learnt that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has given her nod for playing the part of Dalbir. Aishwarya is not just one of the world's most beautiful women, but she is a great actress and thus, she is a great choice for this role. Will now wait to see who plays Sarbjit.

Dalbir Singh, 61, is the older sister of Sarbjit Singh, a farmer from Bhikhiwind in Punjab (just 5 kms away from the Indo-Pakistan border). He by mistake crossed over in 1990 while farming, got mistaken as an Indian spy, was given capital punishment in 1991, but was not hanged. He was kept in the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore for 23 years, before he was killed by inmates a few days after the death of Afzal Guru in India. During his 23 years in jail, his older sister Dalbir Singh who treated him more like her son than her brother, made it her life's agenda to get him released. While she finally did not succeed in getting him released, she is determined to reach his real story to the world through a film being made based on his life. The film will be directed by Omung Kumar, the National Award-winning director or Mary Kom. Dalbir Singh met her brother only three times in those 23 years. She opens up to Bombay Times for the first time after her brother's death in 2013 and recounts the three times she met her brother in jail. Excerpts:

Did instances like the Kargil War affect you?
At the time of Kargil, I got very scared. There is a nearby village called Khasa, where many army officers live. I went to meet them and asked Brigadier sahab, given the situation how it would affect the way Pakistan would treat our prisoners. I was scared that if there would be war, how would the prisoners come out? I met another Brigadier who told me that if there would be war, we would open up the jail and release the prisoners, so that an innocent man should not get bombed and die in jail. But he didn't know what the Pakistanis would do. We would feel scared that Khuda na kare, if there was a bomb thrown in jail, how would he be able to run? My heart would sink if there was a flood or earthquake in Lahore.

How did Sarbjit actually cross over to Pakistan?
Our village is just about 4-5 kms from the border. I myself have gone many times to the other side while working together with the women from the other side on our fields. We would be working on our respective fields and some times, even eat a meal together with the Pakistani brothers and sisters on the other side. Gradually and slowly, the situation got bad to worse and they first put a rough line to segregate the boundary and then, there were some fundamentalists on both sides who did not have good thoughts. Though I believe that ours were not as negative as the people on the other side. There would be things smuggled in across the borders, but the women had good behaviour towards each other and there was no enemity. However, if there was anybody who went the other side by mistake, they would be caught and put behind bars termed as 'spies'. That night, we had finished our dinner when a friend of Sarbjit came and took him to the fields to work. The field was right next to the border. As is usually the case in Punjab, the men drink and then work. Sarbjit and his friend too had their full share of drinks and then, Sarbjit put his axe on his shoulder and not realising which direction he was walking, he walked into the Pakistani side. At that time, there was not even a wire to show the borderline. He was caught and blindfolded and only the next morning, he realised that he was in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail, accused of being an Indian spy by the name of Manjit Singh. Sarbjit was very fond of playing kabadi and he would often tell me, 'You wait and see. One day the world will know me as this famous pahelwan.' I didn't know then that he would one day become world famous, but not as a kabadi player. When Sarbjit suddenly disappeared, I initially thought that he must have been picked up by a terrorist group. But it was nine months later when he was first presented in the Pakistani courts that he wrote a letter to me, telling us how he had been arrested, accused of being a man called Manjit Singh, who was allegedly behind four bomb blasts. He asked me to please get Shri Akhand Sahib path done. After that, in every subsequent letter, he wrote to me details of what he went through. I have all his letters kept in a big bag with me. On August 15, 1991, he was held guilty and sentenced to be hanged. But for so many years, they neither released him nor hanged him despite my making so many appeals and requests for his forgiveness, even though he had committed no crime.

Why was it difficult for you to meet him?
I did not even have a passport, but right from 1990, I tried a lot to go but I never got the permission. At times, I would read in the newspapers that yes, his family can come and meet him, but then, there was a call from Pakistan that there was news printed there that they would not grant us permission. Finally, I met Rahul Gandhiji and took his help to get the visa for me and finally got the visa along with my husband, Sarbjit's wife and his two daughters Swapandeep and Poonam (Swapandeep was adopted by Dalbir as she does not have kids of her own). While we got the visa and reached Lahore, we were still not allowed to meet him. The jail authorities would say that they had not got permission from Islamabad and Islamabad would say that Lahore had not given the permission. After nine days of feeling mentally tortured, living in the Gurudwara Dera Sahib there, I decided to appeal in the High Court. The judge was very kind and he immediately granted permission. It was too late that day, but the next day on April 23, 2008, we all went to jail to see Sarbjit.

What happened in jail that day?
He had been kept in a tiny room where you could hardly stand up, with tall walls outside with a big lock. A mother can easily recognise her son. As soon as they opened the door to his room for us to go inside, I recognised him. He was standing at an angle and seeing him, my heart was sinking. His eyesight had gone weak and he wore a broken pair of glasses tied with thread to hold them together. I told him, 'At least you could have worn proper glasses.' He said, 'I got a lot of gaalis to even get this.' I remembered that in one of his letters to me, he had written how his eyes burn and itch but the authorities would abuse and harass him, but not give him medicines or glasses. I wanted to hug him but was not allowed to do so even once, so I held his hand and sat down on the other side of the bars next to him.

I held his hands and told him, 'Sarbjit, I wish I could have turned blind before seeing you like this.' I cried profusely so much so that I fell down holding the bars and got hurt on my fore head. That day, knowing we were coming to meet him, he had requested the jail authorities to allow him some water, cold drink and ingredients for tea, as he wanted to make tea for me and serve me. They had given him a stove and he had made tea himself, sticking his hands out of the bars, and then kept it in a flask to serve us later. When I fell down, he got hassled and quickly gave me water and the cold drink. Most of the 48 minutes went into crying, but fortunately, he met his daughters and we talked a little about his case. I also tied him a rakhi and he said, 'I have nothing to give you today .' He had tears in his eyes, but he tried to hide them from me even though I knew. I fed him a piece of barfi like I always did and he bit my hand with his teeth. He said, 'You have come to give me strength, then why are you scared?' He recognised his daughters as he had seen their pictures through the newspaper reports. He told me how the Indian prisoners would send him newspaper cuttings hidden below his rotis. And these he stored in that register that he had kept. At that time, he was sure that he would come back. The one regret I had was that I was not allowed to hug him.

What was his jail like?
There was no fan inside but outside for us, there was a small fan kept. Inside his room, he had a small pot of water with which he had to manage for the whole day, his bathing, washing clothes, using the washroom or drinking.

Did you visit him again?
I met him again in 2011, when he showed me a diary and register, where he said that he had written every word of what had happened to him in those many years. I wanted that diary after he died, as I wanted everyone to know what he went through in jail, but it was not given to me. When his body came in 2013, only that clay pot came with it. I got to meet him for three hours in 2011. And on this visit, I went to meet him twice. Unlike the last visit, this time he had not taken his bath, not prepared anything for me and looked indifferent. He was quiet and I asked him what happened. He said, 'Didi, for many many days, I don't even eat or sleep or take a bath and I keep thinking why I am in this state and I keep thinking whether I will come back or not. I can't even tell you what I go through here.' I felt that if he kept thinking like that, he would get mentally ill. I summed up strength to give him some and wanted to tie many rakhis that I had taken from here, many of which had been given to me by women in the village. He said, 'Chalo, you give them to me. I will keep tying it up slowly later.' I said, 'No, why are you talking like this? You will be with me in our aangan on the next rakhi.' It's only when I visited him for the second time that he was waiting for me, ready to serve me lassi that he had made mixing curd and water and the jail dal. He knew that I was the only one he could tell and told me how they would abuse Indians a lot there. If you asked the jail authorities for medicines or glasses or water, they would say, 'Aaj bahar nikale? Aaj paani pilaye hi dete hain tumhe.' He said, 'Sometimes, they would beat me, sometimes I managed by begging them for forgiveness.'

Was it ever proven that Sarbjit had been convicted wrongly?
The sole witness of the Pakistani police, Shaukat Ali was once interviewed by an Indian journalist, who managed to find him there and he said, 'I don't know whether Sarbjit has done it and whether he is Manjit or Sarbjit. Those days, my father had died and the police had asked me to say that Sarbjit was Manjit and that he had committed the bomb blasts in court and I said it.'

How did he finally die?
Over the years, there were many times when I would wonder if he would ever come back, but then again, I would meet people and get assured that he would come back. I had kept all the navratras, slept on the floor for 23 years, but it was after meeting S M Krishnaji, the External Affairs Minister, that I felt most assured that Sarbjit would be released for sure. I don't know from where I got the strength to fight, but I was determined and had decided that I would fight, come what may. But I quickly trust people and start feeling they are my own, but got cheated each time. Before Sheikh sahab, all the lawyers who represented us took the money from us, but cheated us in court. They did not even present our case of him not being Manjit, even though they had the papers proving that. Afzal Guru had been hanged in India a couple of days before Sarbjit was attacked in prison. We learnt that there was a man who would go inside jail and supply sharpened spoons and knives made from sandooks inside jail to the prisoners there. I feel the Pakistani prisoners there took Afzal's revenge by killing Sarbjit. I was with Swapandeep the day he was attacked. I had been having a severe back problem for two days and was in terrible pain. I could not sleep and was restless when suddenly I got a call from Pakistan telling me how he had been attacked. I screamed and woke up Swapandeep who was sleeping, but I thought we would still be able to treat him and get him back alive. It's only when I got his body in the hospital in Lahore that I finally broke down and realised that I had lost my son forever. Uss pal meri umeed bhi khatam ho gayi aur intezaar bhi.

Are you free now?
No, I try but I can never forget Sarbjit. I wish he had come back. For 23 years, my only goal was to get him released. But now, I want people to know who he actually was. What happened with Sarbjit inside jail? What happens to Indians inside Pakistani jails? There is an innocent Pakistani prisoner in Tihar, who has paralysis, that Sarbjit would tell me about. Through this film, I want a message to go to all. I could not bring back Sarbjit, but I hope that this Pakistani child in Tihar is released.

After the National Award winning Shahid, based on the life of the slain activist lawyer Shahid Azmi, and the under-production Aligarh inspired by a trials of a gay university professor, Hansal Mehta who has always drawn stories from real life and made national figures of local heroes, will soon start work on an official biopic of Sarabjit Singh. It revolves around his relationship with his sister, Dalbir Kaur, who spent most of her life fighting to free her brother from a Pakistani jail. While they are still looking for an actor to play Sarabjit, Kangana Ranaut has been approached to play his sister.

Sarabjit was a farmer in Punjab, who had strayed across the border in 1990, three months after a series of bomb blasts in Lahore and Faisalabad. The Indian national was convicted of terrorism and spying for RAW by the Supreme Court of Pakistan and sentenced to death. His sister and family campaigned for his release with the Indian government and on June 26, 2012, the media reported that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari had commuted his sentence to life in prison, which is 14 years. Since he had already served 22 years, he was to be released. However, five hours later, the Pakistani government announced that Surjeet Singh, another Indian national and not Sarabjit Singh will be released.

The mercy petitions continued but in April 2013, Sarabjit was attacked in prison. On 29 April 2013, India appealed to Pakistan to release him on humanitarian grounds or at least allow him to be provided medical treatment in India, but Pakistan rejected these pleas. On 1 May 2013 he was declared brain dead by doctors and his sister and family returned to India harbouring suspicions of foul play. His body was brought to India by a special aircraft where Indian doctors claimed that the second postmortem revealed that vital organs were missing from his body and that his skull was broken into two pieces.

The news of his death created a national furore and his sister's struggle to free her brother captured the nation's imagination. And Hansal's too. The filmmaker's spokesperson said: “Yes, Hansal has met and spoken to Kangana. An official announcement will be made when things are finalised.“

Kangana told Mirror that she was really impressed with Hansal's script. “The role spans 16-46 years and is a challenge in itself. I myself share a really close bond with my siblings. Rangoli is around four years older than me but there's just a gap of a year-and-a-half between me and my younger brother who is a pilot. We've grown up eating from each other's plates so I can completely empathise with the relationship Dalbir and Sarabjit shared.“