Nikhil Dwivedi Buys Official Rights To Adapt The Book ‘Dark Star: The Loneliness Of Being Rajesh Khanna’ Into A Movie(Pic Credit: IMDb)
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Rajesh Khanna the first superstar of the nation is known for giving memorable yet entertaining films. His filmography includes some masterpieces like Anand, Aradhana, Kati Patang, Amar Prem, Khamoshi and others. Now to honour his contribution towards the Indian cinema, producer Nikhil Dwivedi has announced a biopic on the life of the late actor with Farah Khan as the director.
The producer has reportedly acquired the rights of Gautam Chintamani’s book, Dark Star: The Loneliness of Being Rajesh Khanna and currently the writer is already busy adapting the book into a screenplay.
As per ETimes, producer Nikhil Dwivedi is in final talks with director/ choreographer Farah Khan to helm the project. On the other hand, there’s no confirmation about the actor who will play the legendary actor Rajesh Khanna on screen. Confirming the news, Farah told, “Yes, I have read Gautam’s book and it’s very fascinating. We are in conversation over this, but I cannot comment more.”
Talking about adapting Gautam Chintamani’s book, Dark Star: The Loneliness of Being Rajesh Khanna for a movie, Nikhil Dwivedi says, “I found the book very interesting and the thought of turning it into a film stayed with me all these years. It perfectly encapsulates the man behind the most iconic star our country has seen. There is so much intrigue attached to him. He had a regal personality. His career saw a dip, but he bounced right back.”
“He was not meant to be in the business, but not only did he step into it, but he also conquered it. At no point in his career did he lose that regal aura. There are varied aspects to his personality which have been captured well in the book. The story of Rajesh Khanna’s life should have been told a long time ago. People who really knew him understood what made him so special.”
Commenting on turning the superstar’s life into web series, Nikhil Dwivedi said, “It’s tough to arrive at what one wants to keep in the film eventually. It’s a task and we are working on that aspect as we speak. Also, as storytellers, we tend to get greedy — we want to be able to tell as much as possible, especially when the subject is a personality as interesting as him. Even back in his time, superstars were meant to be rockstars and no one was better than Rajesh Khanna. If that needs to be shown, it will be done tastefully and respectfully. We only want to show what was true and real.”
While talking about taking the family’s consent before making the biopic, the producer explains that they don’t want to sensationalise or create controversy out of it, they just really want to capture the magic his personality created, “A film on his life is long overdue.”
