Sudha Kongara reveals 'Sarfira's connection to director Rajkumar Hirani
Director Sudha Kongara is set to bring the life story of GR Gopinath, founder of Air Deccan, to the big screen for the second time with her upcoming film Sarfira. The film is an adaptation of Gopinath's memoir Simply Fly: A Deccan Odyssey and stars Akshay Kumar. Kongara revealed in an interview that the idea for a Hindi version was suggested by Paresh Rawal and Rajkumar Hirani before the release of her Tamil film Soorarai Pottru, which starred Suriya.
Hirani pitched the idea to Suriya years ago
Kongara told News18, "I always show my films to (Rajkumar Hirani) and I remember taking Soorarai Pottru to Raju sir in Mumbai, on March 19, 2020, just before the lockdown." "He saw it and he really, really liked the film. He said that we should do it in Hindi. He also said he would come on board in any capacity and we should do it in Hindi. He immediately called Suriya and [pitched the idea]."
Later, Kumar came on board and the project materialized
The project gained traction when Kumar and Vikram Malhotra of Abundantia Entertainment expressed interest. Kongara stated, "It crystalized when Akshay sir reached out to us, Vikram (Malhotra) reached out to us. From there on, there was no looking back." Rawal, who stars in both the Tamil and Hindi versions, also pushed her to work on the Hindi adaptation. Sarfira is set to release on Friday under the production of Aruna Bhatia, Suriya, Jyotika, and Malhotra.
