Shershaah, the Hindi film starring Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani, will premiere worldwide on Amazon Prime Video on August 12, the over-the-top platform announced on Thursday. It is a biographical drama based on the life of Kargil war hero Captain Vikram Batra.
The film will mark the Hindi debut of director Vishnuvardhan, who has earlier directed Tamil films like Billa and Arrambam, among others. This is also the filmmaker’s first time directing a biopic.
Shershaah features Malhotra in the role of Batra and marks his first collaboration with Advani. This is his second time playing an army man after the 2018 film Aiyaary.
Produced by Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar, and Apoorva Mehta under the banner Dharma Productions, and Shabbir Boxwala, Ajay Shah and Himanshu Gandhi representing Kaash Entertainment, the film’s story, screenplay and dialogues are written by Sandeep Srivastava.
Shershaah was the code-name used by Batra during the Kargil War of 1999 that involved India and Pakistan. He was killed in action while trying to capture a mountain peak along the Line of Control (LoC), and was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra — India’s highest award for valour in battle.
Amazon Prime Video’s synopsis calls the film “a story of valour, love and sacrifice.”
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Also starring Shiv Panditt, Raj Arjun, Pranay Pachauri, Himanshu Ashok Malhotra, Nikitin Dheer, Anil Charanjeett, Sahil Vaid, Shataf Figar and Pawan Chopra in pivotal roles, Shershaah marks the first collaboration between the OTT platform and Dharma Productions for a global premiere, as per the former’s statement.
“We knew Shershaah would be a special film from the minute the Batra family approached Sidharth Malhotra and us to tell the story of Captain Vikram Batra,” Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions, said in a statement.
The film has been shot extensively in Kargil-Ladakh, Kashmir, Chandigarh and Palampur. While it was initially scheduled for a July 2020 release, it was delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.