Last year, Siddharth Anand forayed into production with an aspiration to build his company, Marflix Productions, as a banner that produces content on par with Hollywood. His maiden production venture, Fighter, starring Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone, is India’s first aerial action film and promises to take audiences on a ride never-seen-before in Indian cinema. The film, which follows Hrithik’s character as he trains to become the country’s best fighter pilot, is currently in production and will be released in theatres during Republic Day weekend next year. Fighter aside, the Pathaan director has many ambitious plans for his banner going forward, and it seems he has already started working towards them.
Peepingmoon.com has exclusively learned that Siddharth Anand is in talks with Netflix India for an action film franchise. Although the project details are not known yet, industry sources have confirmed that they are in advanced talks to collaborate on multiple action films that will be mounted on a huge canvas. “After months of internal discussion, Sid Anand and Netflix have zeroed in on a subject that can eventually be developed into a major franchise. The OTT platform was looking to create India’s own Extraction-type action entertainer and has found an ideal partner in Siddharth Anand. The filmmaker will create, conceptualize, and produce this project, while one of his ADs might direct it,” a source close to the development told us, adding that the discussion is in the final stage and will soon be locked on paper.
Siddharth Anand is also producing the Rambo franchise with Tiger Shroff, and sources say it might finally go on floors at the end of this year. Desi Boyz, Dishoom, and Shehzada fame Rohit Dhawan has been assigned to direct this action film, which sees Tiger emulating the screen presence of Sylvester Stallone, the original John Rambo, a troubled Vietnam veteran and the last survivor of his special-forces team, in the Hollywood film series. Rohit Dhawan has apparently already begun his prep, while Tiger is also finishing all of his commitments to kick-start this much-delayed journey towards the year-end.
Siddharth Anand, meanwhile, is presently shooting for Fighter and is expected to wrap it up by June. The VFX work on the film is simultaneously going on to meet the targeted release on January 25, 2024. Soon after finishing this Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone-led aerial action thriller, the director will move on to Yash Raj Films’ biggest ever production, Tiger vs. Pathaan. The spy thriller brings together India’s two biggest superstars, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, squaring off against one another on the big screen. The Showdown Saga goes into production after the release of Fighter next year.
