Case of the two Dadasaheb Phalke biopics: Are Aamir Khan-Rajkumar Hirani and Jr NTR-SS Rajamouli making the same film?

Aamir Khan and Jr NTR are both set to play Dadsaheb Phalke in different films, being written by Rajkumar Hirani and SS Rajamouli, respectively.

On Thursday, Aamir Khan made a surprise announcement. Aamir will be seen reuniting with Rajkumar Hirani, the man who gave him two of his most successful films, for a biopic of Dadasaheb Phalke, the father of Indian cinema. Minutes after that, reports said that Telugu star Jr NTR is set to play Phalke in a separate film, which is being backed by SS Rajamouli no less.

Aamir Khan and Jr NTR are both set to play Dadasaheb Phalke in different films.

The Aamir Khan-led Phalke biopic

A release from Aamir Khan's team stated that "it’s surprising that no one in Hindi cinema has yet told us the story of cinema in cinema", while announcing that Dadasaheb Phalke's story will soon come to the big screen. Aamir Khan will start preparing for his part soon after the release of Sitaare Zameen Par. VFX studios from LA has already created AI designs for the era and period of the film, the release added. Rajkumar Hirani with Abhijat Joshi and two other writers Hindukush Bharadwaj and Avishkar Bharadwaj have been working on this script for the last 4 years.

The note added that Phalke's grandson, Chandrashekhar Srikrishna Pusalkar, has provided 'major anecdotes from Dadasaheb Phalke’s life', supporting the project. Filming will begin in October this year.

Then there's SS Rajamouli's Made in India

While the release for the Aamir-starrer was technically correct about no Hindi film being ever made on Phalke, regional cinema has depicted the great man. Marathi film Harishchandrachi Factory (2009) even won a National Award. And in 2023, SS Rajamouli announced Made in India, a story about the history of Indian cinema. While not technically a biopic of just Phalke, the film is slated to tackle the birth of Indian cinema with Phalke being at the centre of it all. The film is being produced by Varun Gupta (Max Studios) and SS Karthikeya (Showing Business).

Minutes after the Aamir news broke, not to be outdone, Made in India made its way back into the news cycle. A source claims Jr NTR is set to play Dadasaheb Phalke in Made in India, which is now a pan-India project. According to sources, SS Rajamouli, SS Karthikeya, and Varun Gupta recently narrated the script to Jr. NTR, who did not miss a beat to give his nod to the film. Sources added that the RRR actor was blown away by the lesser-known stories of Dadasaheb Phalke

Why the sudden focus on Dadasaheb Phalke

Dadasaheb Phalke was a pioneering filmmaker who laid the foundation of Indian cinema. A self-taught filmmaker, he made India's first indigenously-produced feature film, Raja Harishchandra, in 1913. Four years later, he gave India its first blockbuster in Lanka Dehan. In a career spanning 19 years, Phalke made 94 films, setting the template for how Indian films would be made for decades to come. He introduced concepts like period dramas, costume dramas, and even musicals to Indian cinema.

The focus on Phalke, insiders say, is because of how untouched his life remains, despite being so pivotal to the birth of movies in India. The fact that Phalke did all this in British India with minimal support from the authorities adds a nationalistic flavour to his tale as well, which makers feel works well for a film.

The bottomline is that the two films are different, with one focussing on Phalke while the other being a broader story of the birth of Indian cinema. However, it would be interesting to see two competing films, featuring huge national stars, helmed by maverick filmmakers, telling essentially the same story, in different languages.