After the critically acclaimed success of his films No One Killed Jessica, Raid and Aamir, director Raj Kumar Gupta is take on a new project - a biopic on the Indian spy Ravinder Kaushik, who succeeded in joining the Pakistan army and was even promoted to the rank of Major in the latter, all the while sending sensitive information back to India.
Kaushik, who was given the nickname ‘The Black Tiger’ by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for his extreme bravery and valuable contribution to the country, was interesting a theatre actor, before he was recruited to be a RAW agent.
Unfortunately, Kaushik was later caught and had to spend the last 16 years of his life in Mianwali jail in Pakistan, where he was died after suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis in 2001.
Confirming the news of the project to The Indian Express, Gupta said:
“Shri Ravinder Kaushik was India’s greatest spy. Interestingly, he was an actor before becoming a spy. It is an emotional and remarkable story. We are at the scripting stage of the film. I am humbled and thankful to his family who trusted me and gave me the rights to turn this unbelievable story into a film.”
Ravinder Kaushik’s sister, Shashi Vashisth, also told the newspaper that though the family had been approached by many filmmakers wishing to make a biopic on the theatre actor-turned RAW agent, they had said no to everyone until Gupta came along.
“When Raj Kumar Gupta approached us, we felt confident since we knew of his films like No One Killed Jessica. He is a sensible filmmaker, and he is the right person to tell my brother’s story for the first time,” she said.
Shashi also said that her brother, Ravinder Kaushik, had been a ‘patriot at heart’ since he was a child, and would write plays about patriotism. She also said that he was extremely good-looking and would often be called ‘Vinod Khanna’.
(With inputs from The Indian Express)
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