Srikanth duo announce Ragda 25, a film on the Army's first women batch

Filmmakers Tushar Hiranandani and Nidhi Parmar Hiranandani have announced their next project, Ragda 25, a film centred on the Indian Army's first experimental batch of 25 women. The announcement follows a high point for the duo: their 2024 release Srikanth was named Best Hindi Feature Film at the 72nd National Film Awards.

Like their earlier work — Saand Ki Aankh (2019), Srikanth and Ata Thambaycha Naay (2025) — the new film draws on a real-life story. Tushar Hiranandani described it simply as the story of the Army's first female batch, while Nidhi Parmar Hiranandani explained that the title refers to 25 inexperienced young women who aspired to serve. The batch was experimental in the truest sense: had the women failed, the Army would have shut its doors to women permanently. Even a single failure, she said, could have ended the prospect of women being allowed into the Army.

Because only men had been trained until then, there was no existing benchmark. Army officials effectively set the standards for women officers while training the recruits, discovering along the way that the women outperformed the men in some areas and lagged in others. The rules, in effect, were finalised as the training progressed.

The makers have acquired life rights from Anjana Bhaduria, who topped the batch. The script was submitted to the Army as required and has received approval. Casting is nearly finished, with one major role still to be locked, and the film is set to be shot entirely at a single location in Chennai.

Nidhi Parmar Hiranandani said the team is ready to begin once the cast is finalised, calling the script a passion project. She also indicated that the banner intends to keep evolving rather than repeat itself, with two biopics in the pipeline and other scripts in development. While the duo wants to move towards more commercial territory, she added, they intend to preserve the identity that defines their work.