Saif Ali Khan will be collaborating with The Lunchbox (2013) director Ritesh Batra on a period drama. The shooting for the film has begun today.
As per a previous report in mid-day, a source had stated that the film has been in pre-production for some time. “Both Saif and Ritesh are huge admirers of each other’s work. And Saif is the perfect fit for Ritesh’s soft, subtle stories,” the source had told the publication.
The report had also stated that the team plans to shoot on a tight schedule and “wrap up the intimate period drama in one go”. Apart from the yet-untitled drama, Ritesh is also putting the finishing touches to the first two episodes of the upcoming Netflix series Unaccustomed Earth, starring Freida Pinto and Siddharth.
Ritesh’s debut feature, The Lunchbox, starring Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, earned global acclaim for its intimate portrayal of an unlikely connection in Mumbai. He subsequently directed international projects such as The Sense of an Ending (2017) and Our Souls at Night (2017) starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. He returned to Hindi cinema with the Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sanya Malhotra starrer Photograph (2019).
Saif, on the other hand, was recently seen in Priyadarshan’s Haiwaan (2026) also starring Akshay Kumar.