Coming soon: A biopic on Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray

Sena MP Sanjay Raut will produce the movie, which is expected to release in early 2019

A senior Shiv Sena leader is planning to make a biopic on Shiv Sena founder, late Bal Thackeray.

Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. (HT File Photo)

Sanjay Raut, Sena MP and executive editor of the party’s mouthpiece Saamana, on Wednesday said that he would be producing the movie, which will be made in Hindi and Marathi. “It is my dream project. It won’t be a documentary, but a feature film like the biopics on Mahatma Gandhi and [Nelson] Mandela,” Raut said.

The film will be announced on December 21 in Mumbai, at an event attended by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

Raut, who worked closely with senior Thackeray for more than two decades, has written the story and the script for the movie. “The shooting is expected to start in January, and I am planning to release the film early 2019,” he said. “The shoot will take at least three to four months. We plan to shoot several scenes at actual locations where those incidents took place. Most of these locations are in Mumbai.”

The Sena MP, however, did not want to reveal the names of the movie’s director and its lead actors. “It will be announced on December 21.”

Several movies have been made where the protagonist was inspired by Thackeray, such as Ram Gopal Verma’s Sarkar and its sequels. A Marathi movie titled Zenda (flag) is said to have been based on the power tussle between Uddhav and Raj Thackeray. However, this will be the first biopic on the late Sena chief.

Will the film touch upon controversies such as Raj’s revolt? “You will have to wait and watch the movie,” Raut said.