Shaktimaan film teaser: Desi superhero to make big screen debut soon ‘with one of India’s major superstars’. Watch

Sony Pictures International have acquired the film adaptation rights of the popular Indian superhero Shaktimaan. The character had initially appeared in a TV series starring Mukesh Khanna.

India's homegrown superhero Shaktimaan will soon be adapted for the big screen as film studio Sony Pictures has acquired the film adaptation rights for the character.

Superhero Shaktimaan, originally played by Mukesh Khanna (right) in the TV series, is set to be adapted to the big screen.

On Thursday evening, Sony Pictures India made the announcement on Twitter with a short concept video showing the rise of Shaktimaan. The video shows a flying camera and glasses, which were signature accessories of Shaktimaan's alter ego journalist Gangadhar Shastri, followed by the emblem on the superhero's chest. The text in the video reads, "As darkness and evil prevail upon humanity, it's time for him to return." The video then goes on to give a better look at Shaktimaan's costume.

The studio has not yet announced a release date or who would play the character on screen. As per film analyst Taran Adarsh, the project will star 'one of India's major superstars in the lead role' and will be directed by a 'top name'. Taran also informed on Instagram that the franchise will be a trilogy.

Shaktimaan was originally a TV series that began airing on Doordarshan in 1997. Starring Mukesh Khanna in the title role, it featured an ensemble cast of Kitu Gidwani, Vaishnavi, Surendra Pal, and Tom Alter. The show was a huge success and ran for 450 episodes over almost eight years. The character of Shaktimaan is a superhuman containing mystical and supernatural powers, tasked by a mystical sect of saints with fighting evil in the world.

The character was conceptualised by Mukesh Khanna in the early 80s. Speaking to Screen Magazine in 1997, the actor had said, "In Indian mythology, there are a lot of strong characters but no super-heroes. All we get to see our Superman or Spiderman, who are alien concepts. That's why I decided to create an Indian superhero, Shaktimaan, who is born out of a yagna, and a result of all the creative energies of the universe."

In 2020, the actor had confirmed that a film trilogy would be made on the character, promising that it would be “bigger than Ra.One and Krrish.”