Akshay Kumar to play mining engineer Jaswant Singh Gill in upcoming biopic

Akshay Kumar will next be seen in a biopic based on mining engineer Jaswant Singh Gill who saved miners trapped in a flooded coal mine in Raniganj of West Bengal in 1989 and was also awarded the Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak by President Ramaswamy Venkataraman in 1991.

Raniganj coal mine, India's first coal mine, was opened in 1774 after John Sumner and Suetonius Grant Heatly of the British East India Company acquired a licence for mining activities. The mine was nationalised in 1974 and was acquired by the Coal Mines Authority of India.

Kumar will play the lead role in the film directed by Tinu Suresh Desai who previously worked with Kumar on their film Rustom (2016). Produced by Pooja Entertainment, the untitled rescue drama is scheduled to release in 2023. Meanwhile, his film Selfiee also starring Emraan Hashmi is set to release on February 24.