Shahid Kapoor to play boxer Dingko Singh, Asian Games gold medallist and cancer survivor
Shahid Kapoor to play boxer Dingko Singh on screen.Instagram

Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor is all set to play boxer Dingko Singh and bring out his incredible journey. Dingko Singh won a gold medal in boxing at the Asian Games 1998. He is also a cancer survivor, having battled the disease since 2017. 

Bombay Times reports that the film on Dingko Singh starring Shahid Kapoor will be directed by Raja Krishna Menon, who had earlier helmed the Akshay Kumar-Nimrat Kaur starrer Airlift and Saif Ali Khan film Chef.

Ngangom Dingko Singh was the first Asian Games gold medallist in the Bantamweight category in boxing, which is between 51 kg and 54 kg. The pugilist won gold for India at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok at a very young age of 19.

Born on January 1, 1979, Dingko Singh is a former Indian Navy boxer and was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India following his achievements at the Asian Games in 1998.

Shahid Kapoor told Bombay Times that he is keen to tell the story of Dingko Singh so that more people know about him, similar to the Phogat sisters (Geeta and Babita Phogat), who became even more popular after Aamir Khan made Dangal. "The thing that I loved about this story is that he (Dingko Singh) is one of those superstars who we don't know much about. If a film like Dangal (2016) wasn't made, we wouldn't know as much about the Phogat sisters from Haryana," said Shahid.

"Dingko is a cancer survivor, and he went through 13 rounds of chemotherapy. He has even gone on to say that his biggest win was surviving cancer and not the gold medal he won at the age of 19 at the Asian Games in Bangkok," he added.

Shahid Kapoor also revealed that it was cricketer Gautam Gambhir's aid to Dingko for his cancer treatment that made more people pitch in for the boxer's treatment.

Bollywood has seen a lot of sports biopics made recently. Some of the successful ones include Dangal, Mary Kom, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, Paan Singh Tomar, Soorma, and Gold. A biopic on India's badminton star Saina Nehwal, titled Saina, is also being filmed. The film has Shraddha Kapoor playing Saina Nehwal.

Let's see how the Dingko Singh biopic starring Shahid Kapoor turns out.