Sooraj Pancholi, portraying role of a soldier in Satellite Shankar, since the Pulwama attack has been waiting to do something, for Indian Army.
The actor notices that soldiers’ sacrifice a lot for sake of national security. He recollects the time when he was shooting a few kilometers away from an army base in Chitkul, Himachal Pradesh, six months ago.
The film’s makers re-created a fake army base to shoot the film without disturbing the armed forces. The location shared borders with Himachal Pradesh & is 19 hours away from Chandigarh and is one of the last posts on the Indo-China border.
Recalling the shoot, the actor:
“I can’t imagine what the families of soldiers go through because they don’t get to see them for months. They don’t even hear them too often on a phone line. I feel numb when I think of the Pulwama attack where we lost so many jawaans who must have been away from their homes and families for so long. I remember the time when we were in Chitkul for our film’s first schedule. We had built our camp at a distance from the real one. When the soldiers saw us shooting, they welcomed us into the real camp. They gave us lunch and then some snacks and chatted with us for so long. There was so much we learnt by just hearing their life stories, some which we eventually added to the script because it stems from reality.”
Sooraj adds:
“That experience just changed my approach to life. Those jawaans there in Chitkul hadn’t seen their folks in months, they have to travel 10 kms to get a phone line. It’s a tough life. We must respect their sacrifices to ensure we never lose touch with our life and people. As a mark of respect for them and for the fact that I play a soldier. And I represent them and their thoughts in this film, I want to screen Satellite Shankar for them.”
Satellite Shankar, starring Sooraj Pancholi and Megha Akash, is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Murad Khetani, Krishan Kumar and Ashwin Varde. Written by Vishal Vijay Kumar and directed by Irfan Kamal. T-Series and Cine1 Studios produced Satellite Shankar is slated to release on July 5th, 2019.
