mid-day Exclusive Photo! Neil Nitin Mukesh as Sanjay Gandhi in 'Indu Sarkar'

Spot the Difference: Supriya Vinod and Neil Nitin Mukesh (left) as Indira Gandhi and son Sanjay in Indu Sarkar

Spot the Difference: Supriya Vinod and Neil Nitin Mukesh (left) as Indira Gandhi and son Sanjay in Indu Sarkar

Last December, Madhur Bhandarkar unveiled the poster of his next film, Indu Sarkar, based on Indira Gandhi-imposed Emergency that set off nearly two years of widespread arrests, censorship of the press and severe curtailment of civil liberties. While he has been non-committal about featuring characters modelled on the real Gandhis, mid-day has accessed an exclusive image from the film that puts all speculation to rest.

Supriya Vinod, who will also be seen as the late Prime Minister in the Yashwantrao Chavan biopic, plays Indira while Neil Nitin Mukesh essays her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi. The film stars Pink actress Kirti Kulhari in the lead; she plays a stammering poetess, who rebels against the system.

A source reveals it took nearly six months to get Neil's look right - prosthetic make-up experts from abroad were flown in to work on him. "Great efforts were taken to ensure that he looks like a carbon copy of Sanjay Gandhi. Neil has also been reading up a lot on the Gandhis and the Emergency period to prep for his role," says the source. This will be Madhur and Neil's second collaboration after Jail (2009).

Indu Sarkar went on floors three months ago and is set to release in mid-2017. Music composers Anu Malik and Bappi Lahiri are coming together for the first time to create music for the film, which was shot in Delhi, Mumbai, and Pune.