Sports films or rather biopics on sports personalities are the flavour of the season in Hindi films. On Tuesday, it was announced that Sooraj Pancholi is set to play legendary boxer Hawa Singh, who was better known as the Father of Indian Boxing.

Based on the true story of the iconic heavyweight boxer, the film will be directed by Prakash Nambiar and produced by Sam S Fernandes and Kamlesh Singh Kushwaha.

The first look of the film, which will go on floor soon, was unveiled by Salman Khan on his Twitter handle. 

Sharing the first look of the project on his social media handle, Salman wrote, “Hawa se baatein karega Singh... #HawaSinghBiopic @Sooraj9pancholi.”

Talking about the film and casting Sooraj as Hawa Singh, director Prakash Nambiar says, “When I heard the inspiring journey of a young boy from Umarwas to becoming a legend of Indian boxing, I was moved to the core. It was a story that had to be told. While going through the possibilities of who can play Hawa Singh, we met Sooraj. We gave him a small brief and when he came back a couple of days later all prepared for the part, we didn’t see Sooraj, we saw Hawa Singh!”

Singh, a recipient of the Arjuna Award and the Dronacharya Award, had dominated Indian and Asian Boxing in his weight class for a decade. He won the Asian Games Gold medal in the Heavyweight category in consecutive editions of the Games at the 1966 and 1970 Asiads. He also created a record of being the Indian Heavyweight Boxing Champion for a consecutive 11 years from 1961 to 1972.