Ujjwal Nikam’s Rules for Prahaar: Real Names, No Glorification

When a real-life figure becomes the subject of a Bollywood drama, the usual temptation is to make the hero larger than life. Ujjwal Nikam, the special public prosecutor who represented the prosecution against Ajmal Kasab after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, wanted the opposite.

Speaking at the India Today Conclave Mumbai 2026 alongside Rajkummar Rao, who plays him in Prahaar – The Ujjwal Nikam Story, Nikam said he set two clear conditions before the makers could proceed: no glorification of any character, including himself, and real names for everyone involved in the legal process.

The two conditions, straight from the source

Nikam recalled that the project began about two years ago, when producer Dinesh Vijan and director Avinash Arun approached him for informal discussions about 26/11. He was initially puzzled: many films had already been made on the attacks, so why did they need so many details?

The team’s questions changed his mind. They wanted to know why the Kasab trial took so long, why Kasab was tried under Indian law, and what he planned to say. Nikam said those questions made him feel they were, indirectly, acting as his advocates. His next question was obvious: who would play him?

When it came to the making of the film, his conditions were firm:

• No character should be glorified, including his own.
• Real names of all participants in the legal process should be used.
• No-objection certificates should be obtained from those concerned, including judge Madan Laxmandas Tahaliyani, who delivered the judgement.

Instead, the film arrives with a documentary-style pact: if a person is named on screen, they were consulted and their consent was taken.

Rajkummar Rao’s “same energy”

Nikam reserved special praise for Rao, saying the actor “lived like Ujjwal Nikam” and captured the emphatic, forceful quality of his courtroom submissions. He described it as “the same alertness, the same energy” and admitted he was surprised by the trailer, since Rao is otherwise very quiet.

Nikam also said several lawyer friends asked whether Rao had been shadowing him to observe him closely, and he had to tell them no. That detail says a lot about the performance: the preparation happened without the real man in the room.

Why it matters for filmi fans

For Bollywood viewers, this is a useful test of how a courtroom drama might stay grounded. A biopic that refuses hero-worship and insists on real names promises a different texture from the loud, fictionalised legal thrillers Hindi cinema often serves. The Kasab trial is a chapter many Indians remember, so the pressure to get the tone right is high. That approach could set a new benchmark for Bollywood biopics, which often take creative liberties with real people and legal cases.

Prahaar – The Ujjwal Nikam Story is directed by Avinash Arun and also stars Wamiqa Gabbi, Jaideep Ahlawat, Sikandar Kher and Tarun Sharma. It is scheduled for a theatrical release on October 16.

Source: India Today