- Filmmaker Sriram Raghavan says he wrote a key role for Dharmendra in Agent Vinod, fronted by Saif Ali Khan
- Dharmendra refused Agent Vinod due to an India-Pakistan angle
- Dharmendra's swan song was Ikkis, directed by Sriram Raghavan
Filmmaker Sriram Raghavan says he was baffled by the response to his war drama Ikkis, but now hopes that more people will watch it on the streaming.
Released on January 1, Ikkis is a biographical drama based on the life of Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal featuring Agastya Nanda as the war hero. The film received positive reviews praising its peace-oriented narrative, but did not draw the audience to theatres in a big way.
"We were quite baffled actually by the response after the film (Ikkis) came out. I hope people will watch the film at the click of the button (on OTT)” Raghavan said on the sidelines of an event organised by Screenwriters Association (SWA), last evening.
Ikkis was the first war drama for Raghavan, who is known as the master of thrillers in Bollywood with films such as Johnny Gaddar, Ek Haseena Thi and Andhadhun.
The film features two timelines -- one that focuses on Khetaapal as a young recruit in the 1971 India-Pakistan war and the other about his elderly father who travels to Pakistan years later to find out about the day his son fought and lost his life.
Raghavan's 2024 film Merry Christmas, starring Vijay Sethupathi and Katrina Kaif, also did not do well despite receiving critical acclaim for the story set during the course of one night where two strangers meet on Christmas eve.
Acknowledging that the industry is going through a challenging period, Raghavan said, “I've been hearing there is less work. I've not yet gone out with my next subject, so I don't know how bad it is. I've had two flops, and it's not easy.”
Quoting the iconic French filmmaker Francois Truffaut, Raghavan said a sentiment that defines his current state of mind is: “A filmmaker who's not making a film, or doesn't have a subject, is the most miserable person on earth.”
Ikkis, currently streaming on Prime Video, features Nanda in the role of Khetarpal, who was martyred at the age of 21 during the Battle of Basantar in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. The film also stars Dharmendra, Jaideep Ahlawat and others.
Drawing inspiration from classic war cinema like Ballad of a Soldier, Flags of Our Fathers, Cranes are Flying, Battle of the Bulge, Raghavan said he sought to create a film that prioritises human emotions.
“If I were completely against the ideology of Ikkis, I would not have made it. But for me, if it was just the story of the boy, it would not have (been) enough, I wouldn't know how to give it an arc but the other story is what made it whole for me.
"So, when I first heard the story, it was the two stories in one and that is the complete thing that has got appealed to me. I don't know how it would have been otherwise,” the director said when asked if he believes in the politics of Ikkis.
The film has been lauded for a befitting farewell to the late Dharmendra, who died in November 2025.
Raghavan described the experience of directing the veteran actor in his final film, Ikkis as “very fulfilling”.
“Dharam ji was among the first people, to whom I narrated the story. He loved it unconditionally,” he said, adding, “How do I work with him, I go to him with the scene and tell him, ‘Let's see how we can do, what we can do'. He's full of ideas, he has so many things to say.”
Raghavan said Dharmendra helped shape his own character in the war drama movie.
“I remember telling him that I must have a poem of his in the film and he suggested, ‘Aisa kuch ho sakta hai',” he said.
Raghavan, who previously worked with Dharmendra in 2007 film Johnny Gaddar, revealed that while planning Agent Vinod (2012), he had approached the veteran actor for a role of a RAW chief, which Dharmendra politely declined.
“After Johnny Gaddar I told him I want to work with you again, and he said, ‘Yes, of course'. When I was doing Agent Vinod I remember we had written a role for the head of RAW, and his counterpart was going to be Zeenat Aman, we wanted her to be in Russia. So, it was an older and a younger story.
"But it was all in the writing stage. When I met him and told him about this role, he said, ‘RAW head, yaar, tum log wahi, it'll be India-Pakistan, I don't want to do it'. He didn't want to get involved in that, I said, 'I respect that'. Then, we didn't pursue that track at all.”
On a query about how aspiring writers can reach him, Raghavan said he is always on the “lookout for good stories”.
“If ten scripts are coming to me, I can't miss it, what if one turns out to be a Salim-Javed script?” Raghavan said, adding he keeps a keen eye on messages from writers.