‘No one was willing to fund my research’

How does one pepper a biopic with fiction and why is it required?
I had to fictionalize it because in the end of the day the film has to be entertaining. When you’re making a biopic and you begin researching on the person, you only get to learn about the person’s positive traits and that isn’t enough to craft an overall image of the person. I was aware that Paan Singh was killed, so I had my climax but there was a lot of things that I had to fictionalize. So, the ice cream sequence and the fact that he was a glutton were both added to his personality. I would say that the film is 80 percent fact and 20 percent fiction.

Is it more difficult to fictionalize a non-public entity?
You make a film on Gandhi or Bhagat Singh, you’re comforted by the idea that the audience will always perceive them in reverence. So I had to make him (Paan Singh) endearing and it’s a character-driven and not plot-driven film so a lot of effort needs to be taken to draft the character and the person.