The Indian Army could not have had as daunting a challenge with its ‘Operation Khukri’ in 2000 as Bollywood producer Sunir Khetarpal is facing in bringing this daring rescue mission to the screen.

He’s been trying for eight unsuccessful years. ‘Operation Khukri’ was announced in 2017 with Red Chillies Entertainment co-producing it on a massive scale and Shah Rukh Khan playing the lead role. It was shelved when the actor took a break after the failure of ‘Zero’ in 2018. Since then, Kheterpal has been trying to revive it with different collaborators.

Then in 2024 Amit Sharma (‘Badhaai Ho’ and ‘Maidaan’) came on board as director and co-producer with the intention of beginning production in the second half of 2025 and releasing ‘Operation Khukri’ in theatres next year. However, the revival plan encountered significant hurdles and hasn’t yet moved an inch.

The script remains unfinished, no cast has been finalized, and securing an A-list star to justify the film’s substantial budget has proved difficult. All the top actors are booked for the next two years, leaving the filmmakers with no choice but to halt the project until everything falls into place.

This is the second Amit Sharma film shelved after announcement. His ‘The Intern’ remake with Deepika Padukone and Rishi Kapoor for Khetarpal again was derailed following Kapoor’s death in 2020. Attempts to revive it with Amitabh Bachchan failed. With ‘Operation Khukri’ facing similar fate, Amit Sharma is reportedly exploring a time travel project for Maddock Films with Ranveer Singh in the lead.

‘Operation Khukri’ was a successful Indian Army-led UN peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone in 2000 to rescue 223 troops of the Gorkha Rifles surrounded by rebel forces in a civil war. It involved a daring breakout from a siege by a multi-national Ghanaian, British and Nigerian force.