Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar to produce biopic on Deepa Malik

Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar have confirmed that they will be producing a biopic on India’s first and only woman to win a medal at the Paralympic Games, Deepa Malik.

The film will be produced under the Excel Entertainment banner. It is expected to go on the floors early next year. Mumbai Mirror reports that work is already underway on documenting Malik’s journey and putting everyone on record. The cast is yet to be confirmed but Sidhwani has pointed out that whoever is cast as Malik will have a career defining role to play.

Sidhwani told the publication, “I had watched videos of her and knew that her life story was unreal, but when I met her and she let me hold her medal, the sheer weight of the silver gave me gooseflesh. At one point in her life she had to choose between death and life in a wheelchair and she chose the latter. But as she sat in front of me, there was nothing differently-abled about her. She was empowering, a pillar of strength, and I knew that we needed to take her fight to the big screen.”