John Abraham once again dons patriotism on his sleeve in the upcoming film Batla House, after successfully experimenting with the genre in recent films such as Romeo Akbar Walter, Satyameva Jayate and Parmanu. John's latest film will attempt to unravel the truth behind the 2008 encounter with alleged terrorists that took place at Batla House in Jamia Nagar in Delhi. Re-examining the infamous encounter case, John will be seen essaying the character of DCP Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, who spearheaded the operation.
Now in an interaction with a leading daily, John mentioned that it’s a huge responsibility to play a real-life character and to get into its skin, he spent time with Sanjeev. He shared, “I spent a lot of time with Sanjeev and his wife Shobhna to understand his mindset, body language, the way he sits, stands, talks, reacts to situations and what he went through. I had a million questions for him.” Revealing how he refrained from taking creative liberties in the film, John added, "It was interesting playing him (Sanjeev), but it was difficult, too, because it is a strong and conflicting character. It’s like walking on a double-edged sword and you don’t want to tilt either way. So, this is not Nikkhil (Advani, director) or my version of a story that we want people to believe in, but this is what it we believe in, factually.”
For the unversed, certain political leaders, however, had termed the 2008 encounter as fake. When asked how difficult it is to reach the truth since people have diverse views about the incident, John signed off by saying, “I am aware that there will be conflicting views even if you stick to facts as closely as possible. However, the idea is to build a conversation and I hope we have done that with this film. "
Batla House is directed by Nikkhil Advani, and also features Mrunal Thakur. The film is scheduled to release on August 15.
(Source: The Times of India)
