Fresh off their National Award win for Srikanth (2024), filmmaker Tushar Hiranandani and producer Nidhi Parmar Hiranandani are now gearing up for their next project, Ragda 25. The film, like several of their previous ventures including Saand Ki Aankh (2019), Srikanth and Ata Thambaycha Naay (2025), is inspired by an extraordinary real-life story.

Ragda 25 revolves around the first experimental batch of 25 women in the Indian Army. The story follows 25 inexperienced women who dreamt of joining the Army and became part of a batch that was crucial to determining the future of women in the force.

Nidhi Parmar Hiranandani explained that the batch was an experiment and that its success was extremely important. If the women had failed, the Army could have reconsidered allowing women to join in the future. She also pointed out that there was no existing benchmark for training female Army officers, as the training had previously been designed only for men.

As the 25 women went through their training, Army officials were also developing standards for female officers. They observed that the women performed better at certain tasks, while men had an advantage in others, with the rules and benchmarks being finalised along the way.

The makers have acquired the life rights of Anjana Bhaduria, who topped the batch. The casting is almost complete, with the team waiting to lock one major role. The film will be shot entirely at a single location in Chennai.

Nidhi Parmar Hiranandani said the team will be ready to begin as soon as the casting is finalised. Calling *Ragda 25* a passion project, she said, “It’s a stunning script. It’s my passion project.”

Speaking about their journey as filmmakers, Nidhi added that it is important to keep exploring new stories rather than repeatedly working within the same space. The duo also has two more biopics in the pipeline, after which they plan to move away from the genre, while continuing to develop several other scripts.

Nidhi further shared her vision of balancing commercial cinema with the storytelling approach that has become part of their identity, saying, “I definitely want to go commercial, but at the same time, I also want to keep our DNA intact.”