The Batla House shootout between the Delhi Police and alleged members of the Indian Mujahideen terrorist group on September 18, 2008, is the subject of Nikkhil Advani’s latest film. The incident followed a series of bomb blasts in Delhi, and was shrouded in controversy with allegations that the Delhi Police staged had carried out extra-judicial executions.
The Batla House trailer, released on Wednesday, features John Abraham as Sanjay Kumar, a character modelled on Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, one of the two police officer who was decorated with a President’s Gallantry Award for his role in the encounter.
The other officer, Mohan Chand Sharma, was killed during the shootout, and was posthumously given an Ashok Chakra. In the trailer, a police officer played by Ravi Kishan is shown to be shot down during the encounter. Batla House is set to clash with Jagan Shakti’s Mission Mangal and Sujeeth’s Saaho at the box office on August 15.
The supporting cast includes Mrunal Thakur and Manish Chaudhari. Batla House has been written by Ritesh Shah (Raid, Pink, Airlift). The film has been shot across Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Lucknow and Nepal. In an interview, Advani said that Batla House will look at the operation from three perspectives, that of the police, the bystanders who assumed the shootout was staged for a television show, and the actual event.