We’re impressed...Shah Rukh will put in three months prep for Salute

By Nichola

on March 12, 2018

Shah Rukh Khan is clearly not taking his upcoming Rakesh Sharma biopic lightly. Post a series of meetings with the Salute producers, he has apparently locked his dates for the film, which tees off shooting September onwards.

However, before filming can commence, the actor will invest a full three months in prepping for his role as the first Indian to fly into space!

It was revealed that the superstar would wrap up Zero by April. He is touted to begin the shoot of the Sidharth Roy Kapur production Salute by September, and will shoot for close to two to three months to wrap its first schedule. The next schedule of Salute will begin from Jan 2019. However, an official confirmation in this regard is yet to be made.

SRK will be devoting his prep time to doing his own research with his team and will fine-tune the nuances of his role as Rakesh Sharma, who became India’s first man in space in April 1984. Incidentally, the biopic had earlier been titled Saare Jahaan Se Accha — which was Rakesh Sharma’s response to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, when she asked him how India looked from outer space.

Incidentally, Aamir Khan has originally been pegged to play the lead role in Salute. However, he backed out of the project due to other professional commitments, namely the series on the Mahabharata he is reportedly working on. However, he had played a key hand in convincing SRK to come on board and agree to play the only Indian to travel to space, Rakesh Sharma.

Aamir had personally met Shah Rukh and asked him to star in the film. He had strongly recommended the Rakesh Sharma biopic to Shah Rukh as a script worth putting in that extra effort for.

It will be most interesting to see how director Mahesh Mathai (Broken Thread, Bhopal Express) will translate the inspiring story of Rakesh Sharma on film. Sharma is a former Air Force Pilot who flew aboard the Soyuz T-11 in 1984, as part of a joint program between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Soviet Intercosmos space program.
The ex-astronaut, now 68, had spent 7 days 21 hours and 40 minutes in space. Till date, he remains the only Indian to have travelled to space.

It is heartening to see Shah Rukh give this biopic the attention it deserves.