Shahid Kapoor to play boxing hero Dingko Singh in his next

Mumbai: Shahid Kapoor who is soaring high with the success of his last film Padmaavat, is all set to portray former boxing champ and Asian Games gold medallist Dingko Singh on screen. The film will be directed by Raja Krishna Menon who has earlier directed Airlift and Chef. It is expected to go on floors sometime around April 2019.

Ngangom Dingko Singh, known as Dingko Singh (from Manipur) was the first and only Asian gold medallist boxer from India in the Bantamweight category. In 2013, he was awarded the Padma Shri. Dingko has been an inspiration to many boxers who came into the ring after him, and he is so passionate about the sport, that he went on to become a coach for young boxers.

Talking about this being one of his most ambitious project, Shahid said, " The thing that I loved about this story is that he is one of those superstars who we don’t know much about. If a film like Dangal (2016) wasn’t made, we wouldn’t know as much about the Phogat sisters. Dingko is a cancer survivor, and he went through 13 rounds of chemotherapy. He has even gone on to say that his biggest win was surviving cancer and not the gold medal he won at the age of 19 at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok. In 2017, Gautam Gambhir became aware of his situation and sent money for his treatment. Soon, people found out who he was, and 13 doctors came forward to help him. He is a sports star who survived cancer. At some point in his past, he had almost become a Naxalite. His life story is unbelievably crazy; it is very human and extremely inspiring. Such amazing stories of heroes need to be told.”

The actor is currently busy promoting his next film Batti Gul Meter Chalu which is slated to release on 21st September 2018.