Mumbai: After tasting success with ‘Bajrangi...’ Bhai will now be producing ‘Lion of the Sea’ which is based on the infamous Komagata Maru incident. Shooting begins mid-2017 with schedules in India, United Kingdom, Hong Kong and Canada.

In 1914, a group of 376 passengers from India, all British subjects, headed towards Canada on a Japanese steamship named ‘Komagata Maru’ with an aim to immigrate. The steamship sailed from Hong Kong, via Shanghai, China, Yokohama and finally to British Columbia (Canada) only to be denied entry. The group of passengers comprised of 340 Sikhs, 24 Muslims, and 12 Hindus, out of which only 24 were admitted, forcing others to return to India. This was the first instance of Canada and the US implementing their exclusion laws on people of Asian origin from entering their countries.

This story of racial discrimination and men’s struggle against it will see Irrfan Khan playing the character of Gurdit Singh, one of the Sikh passengers on board.

“Lions of the Sea is a film that depicts heroism of all those who were on board and challenged the racial policies of the British Empire… It’s a powerful human story of struggle and triumph in which Irrfan will play a Sikh named Gurdit Singh. The story of those Sardars, Muslims and Hindus is relevant even today as we hear and read about the refugee crisis and racial profiling constantly. We have begun work on the preproduction and will announce the director and the rest of the cast in the next few days,” confirmed Amar Butala, Chief Operating Officer of Salman Khan Films to a leading daily.

Irrfan is currently busy shooting for Homi Adajania’s ‘Takadum’ and will start preparing for this intense role sometime next year.

Addressing the media, Ajay Virmani, Salman’s partner for this project, added, “It is imperative to tell this story as it mirrors the current global refugee crisis. Lions of the Sea will allow us to embrace multiculturalism, diversity and bring humanity closer together.”