MUMBAI: When Paan Singh Tomar released early last year, little did one realise that the film would go on to make such a significant mark globally.

A story of an Indian athlete (represented India at the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan) turned army man turned dacoit was an exciting concept for writer Tigmanshu Dhulia and Sanjay Chouhan to develop into a film. Great content, superb reviews, incredible word of mouth and a correctly targeted distribution strategy contributed to the success of the film.

In its zest to immortalise the story, UTV Motion Pictures, the producer of the film, has decided to come out with a coffee table book on the making of Paan Singh Tomar. Journalist turned author Priyanka Jain was roped in to write about it. (She has earlier co-written a book on Vinod Chopra along with scriptwriter of 3 Idiots Abhijat Joshi).

The book will give readers a good glimpse of the real and reel life of PST with some never seen before pictures depicting his life. Both director Tigmanshu Dhulia and leading actor Irrfan are backing this project.

Says Disney UTV Managing Director – Studios, Siddharth Roy Kapur, “It is very important for filmmakers and studios to archive stories around iconic movies which have the ability to inspire future generations. As an industry we have not done enough so far to document our incredibly rich cinematic heritage, and this is a small step in that direction. To see the film alive in the form of a book is a way to share the experience of Paan Singh Tomar with all those who were touched by the movie.”

Observes Tigmanshu Dhulia, “The story of Paan Singh Tomar was so captivating that both UTV and I believed that it needed to be told so much so that as a rare case UTV even funded the research for this film. The story of the making of the film Paan Singh Tomar, I believe, is equally compelling. Paan Singh Tomar‘s struggle is not very different from what our real heroes face even today. Hence the book and the film will be contemporary even today.