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Mumbai, Oct 3: Abhishek Bachchan is slated to play a very iconic role based on a real life character.

The actor is reportedly in talks with Satish Kaushik to play the lead role in the director’s upcoming movie titled ‘Lal Bihari Mritak’.

The movie is based on a real life character named Lal Bihari, a farmer who was declared dead while living and who fought with the legal system for 18 long years to prove that he was alive.

Kaushik has been doing a thorough research on the subject and in the process has become close to Lal Bihari’s family. In fact, Bihari’s son now works with Kaushik.

Lal Bihari’s story is a unique one. In mid 1970s Lal Bihari was stripped of rights to own his own land in Uttar Pradesh because he was listed dead in official books. He tried to prove his status to officials, but to no use. When all doors were closed, Lal Bihari formed ‘Mritak Sangh’ with the others like him who were declared ‘deceased’ while being alive. Bihari continued his fight until he was declared alive. He was even given the Ig-Nobel (a parody of Nobel) peace award in 2003 for what were humorously described as his “considerable posthumous activities”.

Kaushik has previously considered signing Anil Kapoor and Pankaj Kapur for the lead role. But now, the filmmaker has reportedly zeroed in on Abhishek to play Lal Bihari.

Abhishek has expressed interest in the project but he has yet to sign on the dotted line.