Shershaah teaser: Sidharth Malhotra’s war film to clash with Bhuj; it’s Karan Johar vs Ajay Devgn 2.0

Actors Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani were joined by producer Karan Johar in launching the teaser for their upcoming war drama Shershaah, which will be released on Amazon Prime Video on August 12. The film will clash (digitally) with an another war drama, Ajay Devgn’s Bhuj: The Pride of India, which will debut on Disney+ Hotstar on August 13.

Ajay and Karan were famously involved in a box office clash in 2016, when their films Shivaay and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, respectively, released on the same day.

The one-and-a-half minute teaser provides the context for the film’s plot, which focuses on Captain Vikram Batra, who died in combat during the Kargil War. The teaser, set to an inspirational score, tells viewers that the Kargil War was ‘India’s first televised war’, which kept people across the country glued to their TV sets.

We are shown news footage intercut with scenes from the film. We are also shown footage of the real Vikram Batra, as he talks about his nickname — Shershaah — and his company’s mantra, ‘Yeh Dil Maange More (the heart desires more)’. The teaser ends with shots of Sidharth Malhotra, in combat as Captain Batra.

“An ordinary man’s extraordinary journey of courage and valour. Extremely honoured, thrilled & excited to present #ShershaahOnPrime, releasing on 12th August,” Karan Johar wrote in a tweet sharing the teaser.

Shershaah was originally slated for a July 2020 release, which was deferred because of the coronavirus pandemic. Kiara Advani plays the role of Captain Vikram Batra’s fiancee Dimple Cheema. The film is directed by Vishnu Varadhan.

Also read: Bhuj The Pride of India trailer: Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha bring alive ‘greatest battle ever fought’

In 2020, Karan produced Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, another film that dramatised the events of the Kargil War, this time from the perspective of one of India’s first female combat pilots, played by Janhvi Kapoor. The film was released on Netflix, and fuelled controversy around its factual accuracy, which was challenged by other pilots who were deployed at the time.