MAJOR IS THE STORY OF HOW MAJOR SANDEEP UNNIKRISHNAN LIVED

HOW DOES ONE PAY TRIBUTE TO A CHILDHOOD HERO, AND A MARTYR, WHO SERVED THE COUNTRY? ADIVI SESH SHARES HIS JOURNEY WITH WRITING MAJOR' AND PLAYING MAJOR SANDEEP UNNIKRISHNAN IN THE FILM. THIS IS THE STORY OF HOW HE LIVED AND NOT HOW HE DIED

- Rajeshwari Kalyanam

We are neck-deep in the middle of postproduction, and on the way to getting copy, said Adivi Sesh, when PROVOKE caught up with him to get a sneak peek into 'Major', the film based on the story of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, the martyr here of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Be it his choice of scripts, some of which he writes on his own, or the conviction and work that he puts in to his character, Adivi Sesh has been consistently impressing his audience. His films 'Evaru', 'Kshanam', 'Hit' and 'Goodachari' have sealed his place as a dependable star and his successful track record has only raised the expectations of the film goers. As fans await the sequels 'Hit2' and 'Goodachari2', they will first get to see him reprising the role of Major Sandeep in this biopic, written by Adivi Sesh - which he calls a tribute to his childhood hero. "On 26/11 like every other Indian I was glued to the television screen in San Francisco. I was watching with tears in my eyes and abject horror about what was happening to my home. It really shattered me. In the middle of it all I looked at this photograph that came up on the screen, of Major Sandeep. He felt familiar, like he could have been my elder brother or cousin. They are so many family members who looked like him. It stuck with me and I kept going back to the picture, his story and eventually it became my passion to understand his life,” explains Sesh on how it all began so long ago.

Here are the excerpts from the interview:

When did you realise that you had to make Major's story into a film, and that it made for a compelling screenplay?