Exclusive! The biopic Vijayanand is a result of months of research to present an honest account of events: Nihal Rajput

When actor Nihal Rajput and director Rishika Sharma set out to make a film about a well-known transport and media baron from Karnataka, little did they think that it would turn out bigger than they’d imagined it. The actor-filmmaker duo hail from Hubballi, where Vijay Sankeshwar and his transport and logistics firm, Vijayanand Roadlines Ltd (VRL), are household names. “When the idea of doing a biopic first came up, Rishika and I considered Vijay Sankeshwar sir because his journey of starting the business with one truck and growing it into a fleet of over 5,000 vehicles is truly inspirational. We spent about six months on research about him and then approached him to understand his story better. At that point, the plan was to make the film ourselves, with some investors that we’d lined up. It is only after Vijay sir, and his son Anand sir, met us and understood how serious we were about presenting his story that they said they’d be interested in producing the film as the first venture for their movie production wing,” explains Nihal.

As noble as a biopic about a Padma Shri winner from Karnataka may seem, one cannot help but wonder about the level of research that went into the subject. This is, after all, a biopic about Vijay Sankeshwar that he is producing and promoting aggressively. How objective will the narrative be in being 100% truthful as is being claimed? In the past, there have been murmurs about the running of the transport and media businesses allegedly not being entirely above board. “There has been a lot of research in making the film as close to the truth as possible. But to get a clear picture of what is being presented, and whether we have been objective in the portrayal of the character, you will have to see the film when it releases in theatres on December 9,” says Nihal.

The film is being released in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi, for which the team has been travelling across the country to promote it. How has the response been to the team, considering that Nihal and Rishika are relative newbies and the film is a first for Vijayanand Film Productions? “The response has been absolutely phenomenal. The story of Vijayanand has been resonating with audiences everywhere we went. I am absolutely mind-blown by the love that’s come our way,” says Nihal, who had a massive physical transformation for the role. The narrative of the film spans from 1950 and goes on to 2015, and included portions that required Nihal to appear more heavy set.

And while Nihal finds it an honour to have been able to play Vijay onscreen, making the film with an ensemble cast including names like Anant Nag, Ravichandran, Shine Shetty, Siri Prahlad, Bharat Bopanna, among others, was just as memorable, he says.

Why did the team decide to give the biopic a commercial spin, though? "We had two options, either make the biopic a docu-drama like the one on Sachin Tendulkar or go all out with some cinematic liberties too and make a film like the MS Dhoni biopic. We chose to go with the latter; it makes for a more interesting viewing experience," he signs off.