Few know that during his college days, Pankaj Tripathi aspired to join politics. After college, however, he found his calling in acting. But fate works in mysterious ways. Today, the actor finds himself playing the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of India’s most beloved prime ministers, in Main Atal Hoon. Producer Sandeep Singh says that Tripathi was among the first to join the Ravi Jadhav-directed biopic. 

“While doing research for the project in 2021, we approached Pankaj. There was no narration as we hadn’t even written the story. I showed Pankaj an AI-created image of him as the character, but he couldn’t believe it was him. After I convinced him, Pankaj said yes to the film without a bound script,” recalls Singh, who then reached out to Jadhav to helm the movie. “Ravi wanted to direct the film. But apart from him and me, everybody was against the decision. They felt, how can a Marathi filmmaker direct a story [largely set in] Uttar Pradesh?”