Rajkumar Santoshi’s Gandhi-Godse: Ek Yudh will open in cinemas this week, marking the director’s return after nine years. The long gap was not intentional. In 2016, he had announced Battle of Saragarhi, which was to depict the 1897 battle that saw 21 Sikh soldiers of the British-Indian army fight the 10,000-strong troop of Afghani tribesmen. “Randeep Hooda, who was cast as Ishwar Singh, lived like a sardar for two-and-a-half years. We had shot for 20 days, when Akshay Kumar and Karan Johar announced Kesari, based on the same subject. After that, our financial set-up, satellite and OTT talks came to a halt. I had to stop work on my film as I had no [financial] support to see it through,” laments the director. “We’re from the same fraternity. Yet, no one bothered to ask me if I was making the film. [They could’ve made] a courtesy call.” 

Rajkumar Santoshi