Bhagwan Dada biopic to go into production soon

After a prolonged legal tussle, Ek Albela, a Marathi film about the life of late actor and director Bhagwan Dada, will go into production on August 5.

The film will be a tribute to the cinema legend for his contribution to the film industry. Being produced by Kimaya Motion Pictures, the film will be directed by Shekhar Sartandel, read a statement.

The film hit a legal roadblock when Kimaya Motion Pictures filed a case against director Niranjan Patwardhan, who was initially set to helm the film, for cheating, fraud, breach of contract and theft last year.

The production house alleged that Patwardhan cheated them by taking illegal possession of the film’s screenplay with dialogues, research material and important hard disks from the producer’s office.

Dada, whose real name was Bhagwan Abaji Palav, will be played by award-winning Marathi actor Mangesh Desai. Bollywood makeup artist Vidyadhar Bhatte will help bring Dada’s look to life.

Dada acted in more than 300 films. He is credited with having made India’s first horror film, Bhedi Bangla. And he introduced fist fighting in Indian films through his film Badla. But Dada shot to fame with Albela, which released in 1951.

Ek Albela will explore the era between 1930 to 1951 in Mumbai. Though it is presented as a Marathi film, the film has many dialogues in Hindi and two Hindi songs from Albela.

The biopic will also give a sneak peek at the Hindi film industry from that time.