Almost six months after filmmaker Kabir Khan called action on his yet-untitled biopic on kickboxer Tajamul Islam, the film has entered its final stretch. mid-day has learnt that the team has kicked off the last schedule at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) office in Fort today, after which they will move to Saki Naka mid-week. That is when lead actor Kartik Aaryan will join the shoot.

A source close to the production revealed that Khan has left some of the story’s key portions for the last leg. “The BMC office is one of the first locations, after which they will have an extensive schedule at Saki Naka. After Kartik joins mid-week, he will shoot throughout the month till early September,” said the source.

The movie is being designed as a biographical drama about Islam’s journey to becoming the two-time world kickboxing champion. According to reports, Aaryan plays her coach.

After the actor completes the sports drama, he is expected to face the camera for director Anees Bazmee’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 4. The buzz is that the horror comedy will begin production in October.

- Islam is India’s youngest two-time world kickboxing champion

- She won the gold medal in the Under-8 category at the 2016 World Kickboxing Championship in Italy

- She repeated the feat in the Under-14 category in the 2021 World Kickboxing Championship

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.

Shibani Bathija who has earlier written films like Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and My Name Is Khan, as also Kunal Kohli's Fanaa, is now penning a biopic on Tajamul Islam, the eight-year old Kashmiri girl who had made history last November by winning the gold medal in the sub-junior category at the World Kickboxing Championship held in Italy. The screenwriter met the young athlete and her father, Ghulam Mohammed, in Jammu in February and bought the rights to Tajamul's story.

“I had read about her victory online and was really inspired. The story spans her life from the age of six to eight and will focus on how despite living in the Valley, she trained herself and her family arranged funds to send her to the international competition. I took a ready contract and a cheque along with my dictaphone when I went to meet them,“ informs Shibani, who is in talks with some producers.

Insisting that it's a universal story, she wouldn't like to be pressured into casting an established actor as the father with the producer arguing that it worked for Aamir Khan in Dangal. “I want to collaborate with someone who understands the story and will present it right,“ asserts the scriptwriter, who is scouting for a director as well. She promises that the script will be locked, a partner found and a recce of Tajamul's hometown will be done in the next six months.

Will Tajamul play herself? “She is wonderful but the role spans from six to eight years and the child is already eight. So it would be better to have someone who can justify the age projection,“ reasons Shibani.

Has she reached out to Karan Johar? “I haven't discussed this one with him as yet as he has been busy with other commitments. But I will definitely meet him soon to take his advice and guidance regardless of whether it works out with him or not,“ she says.