‘An incredibly important story to tell’: Kabir Khan on Murlikant Petkar biopic ‘Chandu Champion’
Kartik Aaryan plays the para-athlete who won India’s first-ever individual gold medal at the Paralympics in 1972.
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Kabir Khan’s last film was 83 (2021), about the Indian cricket team’s historic World Cup win. Khan returns to the world of sport in Chandu Champion, starring Kartik Aaryan as the celebrated para-athlete Murlikant Petkar.
According to a profile of 79-year-old Petkar in Scroll, “… he was a part of the Indo-Pak war of 1965, got injured in the crossfire that paralysed him knee down, then became a para-athlete in a sport that was new to him and ended up clinching India’s first-ever individual gold medal at the Paralympics” in 1972. Petkar is the first Indian to win this honour in either the Paralympics or the Olympics.
Chandu Champion will be out on June 14. Kabir Khan, whose credits include Ek Tha Tiger (2012) and Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015), spoke to Scroll about working with Kartik Aaryan and recovering from 83’s underwhelming box office.
How did the story of Murlikant Petkar come to you?
One day someone handed me a newspaper article about this person. My first reaction was that this could not be true. It appeared too bizarre and fantastical. Then I thought if this man exists and all this is true, how do I not know of him? I put together a team to research the story.
After about two months, we located Petkar outside Pune. I did a deep dive, spent...
