'Ikkis' writers reveal team members were skeptical about Dharmendra's casting, saying, 'Felt he was no longer relevant'

'Ikkis' starred Agastya Nanda in the role of the Paramvir Chakra honoree Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal. The movie, which was Dharmendra's last screen appearance, failed to pull the audience to the theaters. The veteran screen icon had passed away a month before the film's release. However, reportedly, some of the members in the film team were skeptical about his casting. Let's learn more about it.In an interview with SCREEN, the film's writers, Pooja Ladha Surti and Arijit Biswas, revealed about the same when they were talking about the scenes that Dharmendra had improvised. In one of the scenes in the film, Dharmendra's character is showcased remembering his father while he looks at a tree in his Pakistan home. The writers shared that it was the veteran actor's idea. They shared, "That entirely came from Dharam Ji. When we narrated the script to him, he shared that when he went to Punjab, his father, a school headmaster, had a neem tree. He said he could hear his father’s voice in that tree. When we found a similar location during scouting, we told him, and he was elated. The lines about the tree reminding him of his father are his own words."Another sequence in the war drama showed Dharmendra's character, Madan Lal, getting abused by a Pakistani officer, and the former hugs him. Biswas said, "That was again entirely Dharam Ji's idea. Sriram (Director of the film) called me and said, ‘Dharam Ji has this idea; he wants to hug this Pakistani soldier. What if the character comes at him aggressively?’ I thought it was superb. We fleshed out the scene, but the core, the hug breaking the hatred, was his…"Pooja Ladha Surti further shared that the beauty of Urdu in the late legend's voice was "unmatched." She went on to reveal, "Internally, we had a bit of a debate about casting him; some felt he was no longer relevant. But Sriram was sure it had to be him. All three of us were sure it had to be him."The writer stated that they have been fans of the Hindi cinema icon and it's "sad" that he is no more. She further said that Dharmendra had amazing passion for his work. She added, "The fact that he used to write all the dialogues, including those of other actors in Urdu, and even being on set for filler shots, is something I’ll never forget."Directed by Sriram Raghavan, the film starred Jaideep Ahlawat, Simar Bhatia, and Vivaan Shah. It was released in theaters on January 1, 2026.