Vicky Kaushal, who kicked off the year with the critically acclaimed commercial blockbuster Uri: The Surgical Strike, is currently stationed in Amritsar shooting for Shoojit Sircar’s film based on the life of freedom fighter Sardar Udham Singh. Udham, you will remember, assassinated Michael O’Dwyer, Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in British India, who was responsible for the brutal Jallianwala Bagh Massacre. The film went on floors in May in Russia and will next be filmed in the UK and Ireland after the Amritsar schedule.
Although the film rolled around six months back, nothing is known about the cast except that Vicky plays the titular role. Now PeepingMoon.com has learned which actress Vicky will be romancing in this biographical drama. Sources close to the film have confirmed that Shoojit has signed his October actress Banita Sandhu to play Vicky’s leading lady. The actress is said to have already shot a few portions while her remaining scenes will be canned in the upcoming schedules.
Banita Sandhu and Vicky Kaushal
Udham Singh will be Banita’s second Hindi film after she made her debut last year with Varun Dhawan’s October. The British-born actress, who was noticed for her lively expressions in a mint commercial helmed by Shoojit himself, went on to do an American TV series called Pandora post October and was later seen in Diljit Dosanjh’s music video Jind Mahi. She then shot for her Kollywood debut Adithya Varma which releases in a few months. The project is the Tamil remake of Vijay Devarakonda’s Arjun Reddy and marks the showbiz debut of South superstar Vikram’s son Dhruv.
Udham Singh showcases a significant contribution to the freedom struggle that has largely gone unnoticed. It’s expected to be wrapped up by January-end and release during the Gandhi Jayanti weekend next year. Ritesh Shah and Shubhendu Bhattacharya have written the film to bring this largely unknown revolutionary alive on screen for producers Ronnie Lahiri’s and Sheel Kumar’s productions.
(Source: PeepingMoon)