Saif Ali Khan to star in Ritesh Batra's period drama – deets inside

After Haiwaan, Saif Ali Khan has kicked-off shooting for his untitled period drama with filmmaker Ritesh Batra. The collaboration has generated curiosity, given Batra’s track record of taking distinctly Indian stories to international audiences.

For the unversed, Batra's debut feature, The Lunchbox (2013), starring Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, earned global acclaim for its intimate portrayal of an unlikely connection in Mumbai. No social media announcement has been made.

He subsequently directed international projects such as The Sense of an Ending and Our Souls at Night starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, establishing himself as a filmmaker comfortable working across industries and cultures.

Not many details about the project have been revealed yet, including what's the theme they are exploring or what the story will be about. Apart from Saif, there is no official confirmation yet on who else will be part of the cast and what the probable release date will be.

For Saif, the collaboration is in keeping with a career made on taking chances on ideas that lie beyond the obvious. Often among the most interesting actors to watch, he has repeatedly backed projects that have ventured into unexplored territory, from the dark, morally complex world of Sacred Games, which helped change the grammar of Indian streaming, to the unconventional telling of Being Cyrus and the period world of Laal Kaptaan.

The announcement follows the release of two of Saif's projects this year, Kartavya and Haiwaan. Helmed by Priyadarshan, Haiwaan marked Khan's on-screen collaboration with Akshay Kumar after years. The movie failed to earn numbers at the box office.

His willingness to take a punt on material that challenges familiar storytelling conventions makes his pairing with Batra intriguing. With a filmmaker known for finding extraordinary stories in seemingly ordinary lives, the collaboration promises a meeting of two creative sensibilities willing to venture beyond the tried and tested.