Sooryavanshi

About the film

Sooryavanshi is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language action drama film written and directed by Rohit Shetty in his writing debut and produced by Reliance Entertainment, Rohit Shetty Picturez, Dharma Productions and Cape of Good Films. Based on an original story by Shetty, it is the fourth instalment of the Cop Universe. The film stars Akshay Kumar in the titular role, with Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh returning as Singham and Simmba in cameo roles. Katrina Kaif, Jaaved Jaaferi, Vivan Bhatena, Niharica Raizada, Jackie Shroff, Gulshan Grover, Nikitin Dheer, Sikandar Kher, Abhimanyu Singh and Kumud Mishra appear in pivotial supporting roles. Kumar's character was announced towards the end of Simmba that served as a character introduction.

Sooryavanshi was initially locked to release on 24 March 2020, but was postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic in India. After several delays, it finally released theatrically on 5 November 2021 coinciding with Diwali. Marking the penultimate collaboration to date between Shetty and Farhad Samji, the film received mixed reviews from critics and went on to become the highest grossing Hindi film of 2021 with a gross of ₹294 crore after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Plot

During the 1993 Mumbai blasts, Veer "Surya" Sooryavanshi loses his parents, where he becomes motivated to become an IPS officer. Years later, Bilal Ahmed, the mastermind of the blasts escapes from India, seeks refuge with dreaded terrorist Omar Hafeez at Pakistani Administrated Kashmir in Pakistan as they begin planning more such attacks. Omar's sons Riyaaz Hafeez and Raza Hafeez return from London, quitting their studies, after hearing news of their eldest brother, an officer in the Pakistani Army, being killed by Indian Soldiers in the Kargil Conflict; in response, they formed a sleeper cell network consisting of 40 terrorists, who pose as Indians, aiming to conduct more bombings after the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Surya, who is now a Deputy Commissioner of Police and ATS chief, plans an operation in Jaisalmer and manages to arrest Riyaaz, who was hiding his identity as restaurant owner Rajbir Rathod.

Surya's senior officer, Joint CP Kabir Shroff, who was the only person able to fully solve the case, reveals that a full ton of RDX was brought to India, of which 400 kg were used during the 1993 bombings and the remnant 600 kg are still buried somewhere in the country. Surya plans to catch the sleeper cell's remaining members, while also trying to reconcile with his estranged wife Dr. Riya Gupta, with whom he separated with when his son gets shot while catching a wanted criminal, but to no avail. Surya comes across Maulana Kader Usmani, who is in fact a terrorist and Bilal's accomplice. Usmani meets Bilal, who resides in Sawantwadi houses with the wanted 600 kg of RDX. They remove the buried RDX and prepare for the next bombings. Bilal reaches Mumbai using a fake identity with the help of taxi driver John Mascarenhas, who leaves for Bangkok.

Surya catches Bilal, who confesses that he undertook the bombings as revenge for his family being killed in 1993 Riots and shoots himself to death. Omar Hafiz after learning of Bilal's death now sends his younger son Raza giving a Sri Lankan Passport to exact revenge of Bilal's Death and also finish unfinished business. Later, John is apprehended in Bangkok after a long chase between him and Surya, who learns that the bombs were being made by another member of the sleeper cell. Usmani and John are arrested; Surya plans to pretend to torture Usmani's daughters to make him confess. Usmani finally reveals that Riyaaz will meet him at his aide Rafique's residence. A suicidal bomb planted there kills Usmani, whose elder daughter helps in identifying the bombmaker Vivek a.k.a. Mukhtar Ansari who also the son of Omar Hafiz right hand, who is hiding in Shivgad. Surya sends Assistant Commissioner of Police Sangram "Simmba" Bhalerao to arrest him.

Production

Sooryavanshi was announced in December 2018 through post-credit scenes of Simmba. The first look posters featuring Akshay Kumar were unveiled in March 2019. Unlike earlier entries in the series, Sooryavanshi is not based on any existing work, but is an original story. The scripting of the film began in Goa in 2019.

Akshay Kumar was finalised as the main lead and it was announced during end credits of Simmba, conceiving the idea for the "Cop Universe". Shetty stated, "In Simmba, Ajay Devgn made a special appearance in his Bajirao Singham avatar, while Ranveer Singh too played a cop. Now in Sooryavanshi, both Ranveer and Ajay will be making an appearance and it will not be surprising if they reprise their respective roles from Simmba and Singham". Jacqueline Fernandez was rumoured to be the female lead opposite Kumar in the film, however later in March 2019 it was confirmed that Katrina Kaif was finalised as the female lead.

Miscellaneous work of the film commenced in February 2019 in Mumbai, where the film's teaser was shot. Shetty began filming early in the morning and were done in a couple of hours before leaving for Goa to complete the scripting stages. Principal photography commenced in Mumbai on 6 May 2019 and was planned to be shot in Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad and Thailand. In June 2019, the recreated version of 'Tip Tip Barsa Paani' was shot in Mumbai, where choreographer Farah Khan had choreographed the song. Another schedule was shot in Hyderabad, where it was a month long schedule and majority of action sequences were filmed. The second schedule took place in Bangkok. The shooting wrapped up on 30 November 2019 in Hyderabad. The film's last schedule wrapped in December 2019 in Mumbai.

Key details