Exclusive: Rakesh Sharma confirms Aamir Khan will be playing him in his biopic

What must it have been like to be the first Indian to go into space? Aamir Khan will tell us just that as he is all set to recreate the incident from Indian history. The incident, that also became a high point in former Hyderabadi astronaut Rakesh Sharma’s life, will now be directed by Mahesh Mathai in a high-budget project.

Rakesh Sharma studied in St. George’s Grammar School, Abids and graduated from Nizam College in Hyderabad. He is also an alumni of the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Indian Air Force to become a pilot. Sharma made history when he became the first Indian to have ever entered space, as he flew aboard the Soyuz T-11 in 1984.

He spent seven days, 21 hours and 40 minutes in space. Sharma was also conferred with the honour of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Ashoka Chakra after his return. Three decades later, we will see his life on screen.

Talking about the development, an excited Rakesh says, “This has been going on since the last eight years now. It has taken long to come to this point. The filmmakers were busy with other projects and I was busy too.”

Aamir Khan is all set to play the role of Rakesh Sharma in a biopic

Rakesh also informs that the casting and the scripting hasn’t been done yet. “It is a very tedious affair. It’s still in the offing and Aamir Khan is going to play my role. But the rest has not been finalised,” he says.

“It all depends on how the movie is handled. Even the final script is not locked yet, so I don’t know what parts of my life will be portrayed on screen,” says Rakesh while talking about the film that is produced by Siddarth Roy Kapur under his banner of RK films.

Earlier, the movie was supposed to be titled Saare Jaha Se Accha but is now tentatively titled Salute. A source close to the development adds, “Things are in a preliminary stages right now. Aamir will meet Rakesh soon because people know the way he functions. Aamir is a perfectionist and he would like to do things with immense research.”