Grandson of Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan and son of Shweta Nanda Bachchan and Nikhil Nanda, Agastya Nanda made his Bollywood debut this year with Zoya Akhtar's musical romantic drama The Archies. The Netflix film also was the first Hindi film of Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan's daughter Suhana Khan, and Boney Kapoor and late Sridevi's daughter Khushi Kapoor.
But before even the streaming release of The Archies, Agastya Nanda began shooting for his second film titled Ikkis. The war drama is the biopic of the 1971 Indo-Pak war hero Arun Khetarpal, who was martyred during the Battle of Basantar and was the youngest recipient of Param Vir Chakra at the age 21.
Ikkis is being directed by Sriram Raghavan of Badlapur and Andhadhun fame. In a recent interview with Scroll, the filmmaker revealed why he cast Agastya for Arun Khetarpal's biopic. "We were looking for an actor who could play a 21-year-old character, who had that innocence. When I met Agastya one-and-a-half years ago, he reminded me of Amitabh Bachchan from Saat Hindustani. Then he began working in The Archies. I see a lot of promise in him", the director told.
Known for directing thrillers and mysteries, when Raghavan was asked why he chose to make a biopic on th youngest Param Vir Chakra awardee, he said, "Ikkis hasn’t been treated like a biopic. It’s two stories, one set in 1971, and one set in 2001. Apart from the young man’s heroism, I liked an aspect of the story that is in the public domain. Thirty years after Arun’s death, the father went to Lahore. The father was born in Sargodha in undivided India. He was hosted by a Pakistani Army officer, who happened to be the man who had killed his son. That caught my attention."
Sriram Raghavan is awaiting the release of his next film Merry Christmas, which pairs Katrina Kaif with Sriram Raghavan and will hit theatres on January 12 next month. Ikkis is scheduled to release on January 10, 2025.
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