The season of biopics

After the super success of Paan Singh Tomar and The Dirty Picture, Bollywood filmmakers turn towards real-life personalities for inspiration.

Bollywood has, of late, witnessed major successes in the form of biopics like The Dirty Picture (apparently inspired by Silk Smitha; 2011) and Paan Singh Tomar (2010). Before that, we also saw Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai (2010), apparently based on Dawood Ibrahim’s life.

Not surprisingly, the industry is so high on real-life personalities that more than a dozen biopics have been announced by various filmmakers. Here’s a round-up.

Indira Gandhi
Claim to fame: India’s first female Prime Minister
Natty Kumar, director of the 2011 film, Tum Ho Yaara, is working on a biopic on Gandhi and he wants Oscar-winning Hollywood actress Susan Sarandon to play her.

Dashrath Manjhi
Claim to fame: Made a road through a mountain
Nawazuddin Siddiqui stars in Ketan Mehta’s Mountain Man (based on the life of Manjhi). His story was also shown on Aamir Khan’s show, Satyamev Jayate.

Kishore Kumar
Claim to fame: Popular singer-actor
Ranbir Kapoor will play Kumar in Anurag Basu’s film that has been put on hold for the time being, since Ranbir and Basu are busy with other projects.

Srinivasa Ramanujan
Claim to fame: Legendary mathematician
Ramanujan’s life is being made into a film with Slumdog Millionaire (2008) star Dev Patel as the legendary genius.

Milkha Singh
Claim to fame: Track and field sprinter
The Flying Sikh’s life story — starting from the pre-Independence era — will be the basis of a biographical film, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.

Mohammad Azharuddin
Claim to fame: Indian cricketer
If reports are true, Ekta Kapoor is planning to make a biopic on the life of Mohammad Azharuddin after reportedly signing a contract with the cricketer.

Guru Dutt
Claim to fame: Famous actor-filmmaker
Director Bhavna Talwar is slated to make the biopic. Although the film has run into trouble, with Dutt’s family opposing it, she has secured exclusive rights to use all of Dutt’s songs.

Verghese Kurien
Claim to fame: Father of the milk revolution
Buzz was rife that Aamir Khan might play Kurien in Tigmanshu Dhulia and Ekta Kapoor’s collaboration. Later, reports suggested that Abhishek Bachchan might take it up.

Dhyan Chand
Claim to fame: India’s hockey wizard
Pooja Shetty of Walkwater Media is believed to have purchased the rights of his story from his son. SRK might play Chand. Actor-director Satyajeet Puri is also planning a biopic.

MS Subbulakshmi
Claim to fame: Carnatic music legend
Vidya Balan is in talks to play the singer in a biopic made by cinematographer-filmmaker Rajiv Menon. “Talks are on and that’s all I will say,” Vidya said recently.

Charles Sobhraj
Claim to fame: Randeep Hooda stars as Sobhraj in Pooja Bhatt’s Bad, directed by Prawaal Raman.
The latter had acquired the rights from Amod Kant, who was the investigating officer working on the case.

Bhupen Hazarika
Claim to fame: Popular Assamese singer
Kalpana Lajmi, along with Mahesh Bhatt and Pooja Bhatt, will apparently work on a biopic on late Hazarika’s life. Lajmi is writing the script for the film.