Panipat posters: Sanjay Dutt as Ahmad Shah Abdali in Ashutosh Gowariker’s epic period drama

Actor Sanjay Dutt dropped his first look as Ahmad Shah Durrani in Ashutosh Gowariker’s ambitious period piece, Panipat. The trailer of the film starring Arjun Kapoor and Kriti Sanon in lead roles is expected on Tuesday.

The film is based on the third battle of Panipat, which was fought between the northern expeditionary force of the Maratha Empire and the invading forces of the King of Afghanistan, Durrani. He had two Indian allies - the Rohilla Afghans of the Doab and Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Awadh. The event is significant in modern Indian history as it halted the march of the Maratha empire, eventually leading to the rise of the British in India.

Ahmad Shah Abdali - Death strikes where his shadow falls.
Panipat trailer out tomorrow. #PanipatLook@arjunk26 @kritisanon @AshGowariker #SunitaGowariker @RohitShelatkar @ckmurali_dop #NitinDesai @neeta_lulla @KolhapureP @Mohnish_Bahl #ZeenatAman pic.twitter.com/gPr0uSFh04

— Sanjay Dutt (@duttsanjay) November 4, 2019

Arjun plays the role of Maratha leader Sadashivrao Bhau while Kriti is Parvati Bai. Arjun had gone bald for the role, hiding his look with baseball caps for months. The historical period drama is highly awaited but has been largely kept under wraps.

The film also stars Mohnish Bahl, Padmini Kolhapure and Zeenat Aman. Produced by Sunita Gowariker and Rohit Shelatkar’s company Vision World, it is scheduled to release on December 6.