In recent past, John Abraham has become the go-to choice of filmmakers for essaying the role of cop or an army man. Now, once again the hunk will be playing the role of DCP Sanjeev Kumar Yadav who spearheaded the Batla House encounter in Nikkhil Advani’s next film. Yadav is the recipient of eight President Gallantry Awards including one for this operation. The film is based on the real encounter that took place a decade ago on September 19, 2008. Nikkhil and writer Ritesh Shah are at the helm of this thriller-drama, Batla House.

The film’s principal shooting will start in September this year and the director plans to wrap it up in 50 days with shoots in Delhi, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mumbai and Nepal. Nikkhil, knew he had to direct the film when Ritesh first came to him with the script. He says, “The encounter will be seen from three perspectives — that of the police, those present near the location, many of whom believed that the bullets flying were for the TV serial Swabhimaan, which was being shot in the vicinity just two days ago, and the real picture.” Nikkhil believes that John fits the bill of the character to-the-tee and feels is the right choice to play Yadav, a quiet man with a long list of achievements.

Talking about why he chose John, Nikkhil says, “Sanjeev Kumar Yadav wanted a physically and mentally strong actor and John fits the bill. With a little light on him and a flash of those dimples, John stands out in a crowd. The biggest challenge will be to make him blend in.” On the other hand John is really looking forward to essay the role of India’s most decorated officer who fought for almost a decade to restore his credibility. He said, “We have yet to meet, but I’ve been devouring all the material on him, and from what I’ve read, he seems like a humble man with an interesting back story.”

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On reuniting with Nikkhil with whom John had worked in Salaam-e-Ishq in 2007 he said, “D-Day has put him (Nikkhil) in a different space and after Madras Café and Parmanu, I understand that space too. His eyes light up when he speaks about Batla House, I see a hunger and passion in him and having him around as producer on Satyamev Jayate makes me believe we will work well together on this story. The biggest challenge will be to find the balance between duty and country, that fine line Sanjeev Kumar Yadav walk so perfectly and project it on screen.”

The Batla House encounter officially known as Operation Batla House was carried out against Indian Mujahideen terrorists in Batla House locality in Jamia Nagar, Delhi. In 2008, a seven-member Special Cell Team barged in to the house in search of Atif Bashir, Chief of the Indian Mujahideen. The terrorist group was believed to be behind several bomb explosions across the country in 2003-2008. During the cross fire, Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, and Head Constable Balwant Singh, as well as two young militants, Atif Ameen and Mohammed Sajid, sustained bullet injuries. Mohammad Saif, another terrorist was arrested while two others namely Shahzad Ahmed aka Pappu and Ariz Khan could manage to escape.

InspectorSharma could not survive the encounter and later succumbed to his bullet injuries. The then Congress general secretary, Digvijay Singh, termed the encounter as fake due to which Yadav who was an ACP then had to fight conspiracy theories and face judicial enquiries for years. It was only after the arrest of Shahzad, nabbed in 2010 and Aziz this year, that the fake encounter theory was pronounced null and void and Yadav emerged victorious and vindicated.