‘Suniel Shetty learned horse-riding and weaponry’ to play a 14th-century ruler in Kesari Veer

Suniel Shetty

Kanu Chauhan is excited to be the first director-producer to bring the tale of a Gujarati warrior, who fought to save the Somnath Temple from intruders in the 14th century, to the big screen. "The film is based on a real-life story that happened back then in Gujarat. It's a story that's close to my heart, and one that the team researched on for a couple of years before it went into production," he says of Kesari Veer, which tells the stories of the unsung warriors who sacrificed their lives to protect the Somnath Temple from Mughal invaders.

Sooraj Pancholi

Featuring Sooraj Pancholi, Suniel Shetty, and Vivek Oberoi, the patriotic offering, a source says, stars Pancholi as a 16-year-old newly married chieftain, Veer Hamirji Gohil, who sacrifices his life while defending the temple against the invasion of Zafar Khan, a general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler, Alauddin Khilji. Hamirji joins forces with the ruler of Dron, Raja Vegdaji Bhil (played by Shetty), as they take on the Mughal emperor together over a 10-day battle, says the source. "Suniel had to brush up on his horse-riding skills and learned weaponry, like self-made spears, slings, axes, bows and arrows, knives, and swords, belonging to that time. He also learned archery, as the Bhils were skilled in that, as well as guerilla warfare. He has a unique look in the movie and sports a pagdi, angarkha, and dhoti, and carries a moustache," says the source. Because Shetty takes charge of a role that is crucial to the narrative, Chauhan says they had to design a look that was "aligned with the era that the film is set in." "We have a lot of action sequences that have been designed by south action director Kevin Kumar. The costumes have been created by Chandrakant Sonawane."

Chauhan, who has co-directed the film with Prince Dhiman, says he has left no stone unturned to revive the ambience of the era. "We have constructed lavish sets and grand palaces. There is a lot of VFX involved. We have spent more than R60 crore on the movie and shot it over a continuous 120-day schedule from November 23 in Mumbai and Gujarat. Post-production work is currently underway, and we plan to release the motion poster by this month. The names of each character will subsequently be shared," he says, adding that the team plans to release the multilingual movie by mid-2025.