Tigmanshu Dhulia on K Asif biopic: 'I wanted to do this film with Irrfan Khan'

Tigmanshu Dhulia says he originally conceived the idea of a biopic on MughalEAzam director K Asif with the late Irrfan Khan and though the actor is no longer there the filmmaker says he is determined to fulfill this dreamReflecting on their shared dream on Irrfans fourth death anniversary on Wednesday Tigmanshu said he feels like the actor is encouraging him to complete the project from beyond Irrfan passed away on April 29 2020 at the age of 54 following his battle with a rare neuroendocrine tumourThe film on which Ive been working for a long time and it all started with my conversation with Irrfan that we will work on this film someday and we will make this film it was a biopic on K Asif the director of MughalEAzamI wanted to do this film with Irrfan and I know that Irrfan isnt stopping me and is rather saying Make this film Dhulia said at the special screening of A Story That Refused to Die the documentary on Paan Singh TomarThe 2012 biographical drama chronicled the extraordinary life of the titular national steeplechase champion Tomar who represented India at the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo before joining the army He was forced to become a fierce dacoit due to a land dispute at homePaan Singh Tomar is also among the most celebrated films in both Dhulias and Irrfans careers The filmmaker said he met Irrfan at Delhis National School of Drama in the late 1980s and the two became friendsDhulia directed the actor in his 2003 directorial debut Haasil and later worked on Charas 2004 Paan Singh Tomar 2012 and Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster Returns 2013 The directoractor duo redefined realistic storytelling in Hindi cinemaWe would often discuss one scene which was the spine of the film and that would set the sur of the film Thats what I would do on every film that I did with him Dhulia said at the eventThe filmmaker also opened up about the films that could not be made like Ghulami a period drama starring Irrfan Sunny Deol and Sameera Reddy The work on the film was halted after three days due to budget issuesAnother such film was The Killing of a Porn Filmmaker for which he had shoot for a week and even recorded songs with Sneha Khanwalkar who later did Gangs of WasseypurFor Ghulami we had a huge set and we had started shooting It was about my favourite period of history 1857 We had got the weapons costumes actors from London juniors artists horses etc After three days of shooting the producer stopped the film because of monetary reasons It was an expensive film and two years of our hard work came to a halt the director recalledSomething similar happened with their first film Haasil Dhulia saidThe films producers refused to submit the film for national award consideration following a dispute with them Irrfan won the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Paan Singh TomarThe film usually is sent for the National award along with money order but the producers had so much problem with me that they didnt send it In fact had it been sent Irrfan could have got a national award for Haasil but he won at awards like Filmfare and othersThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever