1993 blasts serve basis for Advani`s upcoming film `D Day`

Mumbai: Filmmaker Nikhil Advani, who is working on a high-octane action film titled `D Day`, feels the 1993 blasts that had rocked Mumbai, inspired him to make this movie. "`D Day` is about a particular day when things go either very right or wrong. It is an espionage film. It has got a lot of action. I would love to talk about the plot of the film, but it is like giving away too much of information," Nikhil told PTI in an exclusive interview here. It was the 1993 Mumbai blasts that made Nikhil ponder over the communal differences in the society, which provided the germ for the film. "When the 1993 Mumbai blasts happened, it was very fresh in my mind. That is one event in my life that actually made me sit back and figure out what I was. I was not connected to it directly. For the first time I realised I was a Hindu...And I did not like it. I grew up in a city, which is cosmopolitan; where everybody was treated in the same way," Nikhil said. "I realised that there is big disparity and underline current in this city about which we don`t talk. That event has stayed very fresh in my mind. I wanted to do something around this," he said. "It is just a high-octane action film. It is nothing about Hindu-Muslims. It is not about India and Pakistan. It is about four people, who are trapped in a situation and how they get out of it and how getting out of it, closes the important chapter in the history of our country," he added. Ask him if this movie will help in reducing the differences between India and Pakistan, he says, "It is a very complex issue. I don`t know if my film is going to bring two countries together." While the details of the film are kept under wraps, gossip mills are abuzz that the film is an espionage thriller about RAW agents and about bringing Dawood Ibrahim back to India. It is set against the backdrop of the 1990s Mumbai bomb blasts. The film is about a ragged bunch of RAW agents who are sent by the Indian government to bring Dawood Ibrahim from Pakistan by road. "It is about RAW agent, I can`t talk about it whether it is about bringing Dawood back or not. It makes the film very small, it is not only about that...It is about relation. It is about four people trapped in a situation and how they get out of it," Nikhil said. Nikhil has already started shooting the first schedule of `D-Day`. It is reported that Arjun Rampal and Irrfan Khan will play RAW agents in the film, while Rishi Kapoor to play the role of the dreaded terrorist. `Gangs of Wasseypur` actress Huma Qureshi plays immigration officer. "Luckily, we got dates of Arjun Rampal and Irrfan Khan. It is a high-octane action film and besides that it is a story of a father and a husband; story of two lovers and story of getting the most wanted men back to India. We are very excited about the film," Nikhil said. He reveals that he had to do a lot of research to build the characters in this film. However, he refused to divulge whether the characters are based on any particular person. "We have got some very high off people in RAW. The characters are based on a lot of research that we have done, a lot of research on real life people." Hollywood action director, Tom Struthers, known for directing sequences in films like 'The Dark Knight', has been signed for this film and all the actors have gone through fitness training. PTI