'That child is determined to forge his own path. Like me, he won't follow the herd.'
Agastya Nanda has the genes. He finally gets to show his star heredity in the trailer of Sriram Raghavan's Ikkis.
Ikkis is about a young soldier's relationship with his country. Going by the trailer it is a soldier's story but told with a restraint and grace that war films normally forfeit in favour of jingoism.
Agastya Nanda, who debuted in Zoya Akhtar's Archies, seems to have found his metier in his sophomore film as Arun Khetarpal, the youngest Indian to be awarded the Param Vir Chakra. He was only 21 when he made the supreme sacrifice in the 1971 War.
Agastya is the perfect fit, and I don't mean just the soldier's uniform. He is young and vulnerable and determined to wage war against the enemy country, even if it means losing his life.
There are other interesting actors around, like Dharmendra and Jaideep Ahlawat. But it is Agastya who holds your attention in the trailer.
Without a shred of doubt, Ikkis will do the trick for the young actor.
The trailer doesn't give us a date for the film's release. It only tells us that it is coming in December.
A welcome change from all the excessively splashy supernatural films that have been coming into movie theatres this year.
Speaking exclusively to me, Jaya Bachchan expresses the strongest confidence in her grandson Agastya's abilities.
"Luckily, Agastya is a fast learner. Neither of Agastya's parents (his father Nikhil Nanda is Raj Kapoor's eldest grandson; his mother Shweta Bachchan is Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan's elder child) are actors. So he is leaning on his grandparents and his Maamu (maternal uncle) Abhishek Bachchan for guidance."
"You know me, I wouldn't praise anyone, least of all my own children and grandchildren. But Agastya is special. That child is determined to forge his own path.
"Just like I once did. Like me, he won't follow the herd."
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
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