Karan Johar Announces Film on R&AW Founder RN Kao, Sets 2028 Release

Filmmaker Karan Johar has announced a feature film on Rameshwar Nath Kao (RN Kao), the founder and first chief of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), with the yet-to-be-titled project set to release in cinemas on August 11, 2028.

The film is being produced by Dharma Productions in collaboration with Leo Media Collective and is based on journalist and author Nitin Gokhale's book R.N. Kao: Gentleman Spymaster, published in 2019. The announcement was made on September 21, marking 58 years since the establishment of R&AW.

The project is not entirely new. Dharma Productions had first announced the adaptation in January 2020, describing it as the untold story of the real-life Indian spymaster. Nearly six years later, the film has received a confirmed theatrical release date, although its cast and director are yet to be announced.

Sharing the announcement, Johar described Kao as the man who operated in the shadows and helped build the institution that became R&AW. He said Leo Media Collective had been researching and dramatising the story for two years, with the intention of creating a gripping film based on true events.

The story is expected to span 1955 to 1971, tracing the circumstances that led to the formation of R&AW in 1968 and its early operations, culminating in the events surrounding the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

Kao, who was born in 1918, played a major role in India's intelligence establishment before becoming R&AW's founding chief. He headed the agency from 1968 until 1977, during a period that included major developments in India's security and foreign-policy landscape.

The film is being planned as a large-scale espionage-action feature. Adar Poonawalla, Apoorva Mehta and Amritpal Singh Bindra are associated with the project. The August 11, 2028 release date also places the film in the Independence Day weekend and around the 60-year legacy of R&AW.

The project marks another collaboration between Dharma Productions and Leo Media Collective after Bad Newz (2024) and Kesari: Chapter 2 (2025). Further details about the cast, director and production schedule are awaited.