After Thackeray, Producer Sanjay Raut Planning For a Biopic On George Fernandes

Fresh from the success of the highly-acclaimed film Thackeray, senior Shiv Sena leader and MP Sanjay Raut now plans to make a biopic on veteran trade union leader and politician George Fernandes who passed away in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Despite their strong ideological differences, the Sena founder-patriarch Bal Thackeray and Fernandes enjoyed a great personal rapport, especially since the latter spoke fluent Marathi, among 10 languages he had mastered.

In fact, in the “Thackeray” film, a scene is depicted where Fernandes, played by Prakash Belawadi, visits Sena supremo Thackeray, essayed by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, in a Pune jail.

“Now I will make a biographical film on George Fernandes. It would focus mostly on the period from the mid-1950s in Mumbai to the Emergency, and the crucial role he played in coalition-era politics,” Raut told mediapersons on Tuesday.

Besides “Thackeray“, Fernandes had inspired the characters of a union leader D’Cost in Arun Sadhu’s noted Marathi novel, “Mumbai Dinank“, and in the film “Simhasan” directed by Jabbar Patel.

Besides their close personal rapport, Fernandes, Thackeray and former Prime Minister the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee shared another passion — to convert the country’s first aircraft carrier, Vikrant (formerly, “INS Vikrant”), into a permanent floating maritime museum for future generations.