Sriram Raghavan watched Brad Pitt’s ‘Fury’, ‘Battle of Bulge’ as reference for ‘Ikkis’ | Bollywood-OxBig News Network

The filmmaker, a cinephile, said he dived deep into a number of war movies such as Brad Pitt-starrer “Fury” and the 1965 war drama “Battle of the Bulge” as a reference point for “Ikkis”, which is based on the life of the youngest Param Vir Chakra recipient, Arun Khetarpal.

“Since ours is a film dealing with tanks, I’ve watched ‘Fury’, ‘Battle of the Bulge’ and a lot of old Hollywood classics and Russian films as they make a lot of interesting war dramas. I’ve seen a whole lot of movies from different parts of the world to see if anything inspires me in that sense,” the director told PTI in an interview on the sidelines of the Red Lorry Film Festival here.

“We had our story, we had our script, these were films that I watched to see what they do and to learn about the action and the war sequences,” Raghavan said.

The film’s action sequences were crafted under the guidance of renowned action directors, said Raghavan, adding that the idea was to remain true to the core of the story while infusing a sense of realism.

“I didn’t want to make an Amar Chitra Katha kind of version of how everything is nice. So, we’ve tried to make it as real and as interesting as possible to watch,” he said.

“It’s something different for me and is out of my comfort zone… It’s not like a thriller it’s not the kind of movies I’ve done so far. It was quite different and challenging in that sense but I had a good time making it,” he added.

Known for for his critically-acclaimed thrillers “Ek Hasina Thi”, “Johnny Gaddaar”, “Badlapur”, “Andhadhun”, and “Merry Christmas”, Raghavan said when he first heard the story of “Ikkis”, he instantly liked the idea of making a war film.

“When I first heard the story, it had something which appealed to me, and I felt it needed to be told, and that it would be a good change for me to recharge .

“Now, the next movie I do probably will be a thriller. I’ve not chosen what to do but there are a couple of subjects and they are all thrillers,” he said.

“Ikkis” boasts a stellar ensemble cast in Dharmendra, Jaideep Ahlawat, and Sikandar Kher, alongside newcomer Simar Bhatia, Akshay Kumar’s niece, who is set to make her Bollywood debut.

Raghavan said Nanda underwent extensive preparation for his role as Arun Khetarpal.

“We had signed him before ‘The Archies’ released. It was being made at that time. We had not seen the film but I liked him. I wanted a fresh boy because I wanted somebody who would have time to train, time to do all the things like training at NDA , Pune, etc, and he did all that. He got trained to whatever extent he could, he is not an army man, but he has to train for a few things,” Raghavan said.

Working with legendary actor Dharmendra again is a thrilling experience for Raghavan, who previously directed him in “Johnny Gaddaar”. Raghavan praised Ahlawat for his acting talent.

“When you watch the movie, I’m sure you will be like, ‘They’ve good characters, and have given good performances,” he said.

Raghavan said about ten days of shoot is left on “Ikkis” is left and hopefully, it will release sometime in September.

“Ikkis” is produced by Dinesh Vijan via Maddock Films.

At the Red Lorry Film Festival, Raghavan introduced the 1973 political thriller film, “The Day of the Jackal”.

“They had asked me to curate a few detective films of my choice, so I got a chance to revisit some of my childhood favourites like ‘The French Connection’, ‘Chinatown’, ‘Shonar Kella’, and ‘The Day of the Jackal’, and there were a few more I had recommended, but it’s not easy to get all the copies from the producers,” the director said.

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