Years before we started rooting for the Avengers or exchanged notes on their superpowers with our friends, we used to be glued to our television screens, marvelling at the only superhero we knew — Shaktimaan. Almost 15 years since the Doordarshan show went off the air, actor-producer Mukesh Khanna and the original team are reuniting to create a three-film franchise. The first instalment of the trilogy is likely to go on floors in the second half of 2021.

"Kids across the country write to me, requesting that I create a new season of the series. I know the excitement around the subject hasn't dwindled. Shaktimaan is the first Indian superhero, after all. The makers of Krrish had Rs 150 crore [to make the film] and I didn't, which is why it took so long to develop the plan. Now, everything is slowly falling in place. The project should have rolled by now, but the pandemic disrupted our plans," says Khanna, who played a meek photojournalist and his superhero alter ego in the popular show that began airing in 1997.