Akshay Kumar has had a slew of releases in the past year alone. The actor is now gearing up for the release of his period drama Samrat Prithviraj, which stars former Miss World Manushi Chhillar, Sanjay Dutt and Sonu Sood. Directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi, the film is based on medieval poet Chand Bardai’s epic poem Prithviraj Raso. While Akshay will play Prithviraj Chauhan, Manushi Chillar will be seen as his wife Sanyogita. Manav Vij plays Muhammad of Ghori. The trailers emphasise Prithviraj’s ‘Hindu dharma’, which is to respect and protect everyone who asks for his help. In an earlier interview, director Chandraprakash Dwivedi, who has helmed Chanakya, Mohalla Assi and Pinjar, spoke about how he has been living with the story for almost two decades. “Samrat Prithviraj is my dream project. It’s a script that I have nurtured for a long, long time because of the extensive research work that was needed before I even attempted to make a film on this mighty and legendary king. To be precise, Prithviraj’s final research took about six months for me to be fully satisfied that every single fact was checked multiple times,” Dwivedi said. Akshay Kumar, meanwhile, referred to Samrat Prithviraj as a synergy of “history, patriotism, the portrayal of the values that we should live by, and also tells a story of love that is rare to find”. The actor said he was awed by Prithviraj Chauhan’s story. “The more I read about him, the more I was awed by how he lived and breathed every single second of his glorious life for his country and his values,” he said.
