How An Indian Spy Turned Film Writer: Lucky Bisht Interview
Former spy, Indian army commander Lucky Laxman Bisht turned a writer a few years ago when S Hussain ... More Zaidi worked on his biography RAW Hitman. Bisht is all set to venture in Indian cinema soon with films and shows.
Spy films have always worked - be it the time-tested James Bond franchise or the new Amazon Prime Video spy-thriller series Citadel - stories of spies have wooed audiences the world over. The intrigue will only be multiplied when a former spy decides to grab that pen and tell his own story for the silver screen. Former Indian spy, commando and Indian army officer Lucky Bisht talks about his life, hardships, the process of working in the intelligence and taking the story to the cinemas, in this exclusive interview.
In 2023, author S Hussain Zaidi released his biography on Bisht, titled R.A.W. Hitman. A sequel to the book has also been released. Bisht worked with Zaidi on both the books and has now written four web shows and three films waiting for grand announcements soon.
Explaining his choice of switching from army to being an author to venturing in cinema, Bisht says, 'I am not allowed to take names, but this country's secret services have carried out such commendable operations that the public needs to know.' He adds that books are the best way. He recalls reading about India's Missing 54 - the Indian soldiers who went to Pakistan but never returned, despite an agreement between the countries to return prisoners of war.
'Pakistan never released our 54 soldiers and never even admitted that these soldiers were in their custody. We had a lot of evidence where it was found that these people were in their custody. Pakistan tortured them so much. We know about these 54 people, but in India, there are so many Indian Army soldiers and those from the Secret Service, who are still in the captivity of the enemies. They did not have a personal fight with Pakistan, they went there for the sake of India. I believe today's youth must know about such people. The freedom we have to roam around the streets and go about our daily lives, comes at a price that our soldiers pay.'
Hindi reality show 'Bigg Boss' has had 18 seasons. (Photo credit: STRDEL/AFP via Getty Images)
Bisht confirms that he was also approached by producers to participate in the popular Hindi reality TV show Bigg Boss. 'They offered me the show and the package they offered was also huge. Even if I add all the money that I have earned since I started my job in 2004, it will not be as much as they promised. But, that is not how I wish to connect with the youth of my country. I get thousands of emails and social media messages from the Indian youth who wish to join the army. I wish to guide and help them in that aspect.' He insists that he wants the youth to earn all the money they wish for, but always remember the loyalty to their nation.
Given Hindi films are also the kind of pop culture which Bigg Boss is a part of, we asked if working in films would be different. If reaching masses is the main aim, television continues to be the best bet in India. However, the former spy says, 'Fact of the matter is, books are a very good medium to stay for a long time,' and adds that films will be mainly about widening his audience.
Sharing details on one of his yet-to-be-announced web series, Bisht says, 'I have shown how the protagonist analyzes a blast to reach the man and the brain behind the making of the bomb. Just like a post-mortem, whenever there is a blast, there is a post-blast study. This series, with Asur creator Gaurav Shukla, is based on a bomb.' He says he is also working on projects for Aamir Khan Production, adding that these are likely to release on Netflix. Bisht's work will soon be helmed by Shivam Nair (Sea Hawks), Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan (India's National Film Award winner for 72 Hoorain).
The former spy confirms that he is in talks for eight projects and three of his projects will go on floors this year. Pitthoragarh is being produced by Jio Studios. He is working on a crime thriller for Abbas Mastan and another film on an Indian sniper with a young producer.
Recalling the time he approached his seniors for a no-objection certificate permitting him to write about the secret services, Bisht says his seniors were shocked to see the details which he wrote. 'My seniors said 'This is a lot of hidden information no one in the world knows about'. I reminded them that the enemy of a spy is a spy; and they'd know well about the attacks made in them. I told them that I want the youth of our nation to know about these and be inspired.'
He also says that the publisher of his books needed evidence for everything mentioned in their books. 'The biggest problem for me, even more than the NOC (no-objection certificate), was getting the evidence. The nature of secret services missions is such that we do not leave evidence. But the publishers also need their evidence to ensure no one points fingers at them for publishing unverified information. It took time to give proof for every killing.'
Bisht says he knows a lot about dealing with various secret agencies and carrying out his life-threatening missions perfectly but learned about storytelling from Hussain Zaidi who worked with him on the books.
Asked about the experience of having female officers in a profession like his, especially when almost everyone hails from conservative background, Bisht assures that the Indian secret services recruit 'a lot of female officers and agents'. He says, 'The beautiful thing about Indian army is how we learn to respect women. I have been many organizations across the world and have also met all kinds of people. It is only in the Indian Army that you'd see someone holding a rank as high as Army General stand up as soon as they see a woman. Now, there are also a lot of facilities for them.'
Assuring that those measures do not mean the women officers are treated like any liability, Bisht recalls a mission. 'Special attention is given to her as her presence makes our operation easier. For example, people - irrespective of the gender - are more likely to talk to a stranger girl than boy. The guard is almost always up when a stranger guy approaches. We were on a mission where we were getting behind schedule and were not able to even meet the target. When our female officer volunteered to try, we were not sure as contacting the target was not part of her task. She insisted, went straight to him - without any appointment - and got us what we needed. Just a 23-year-old girl made that operation a success.'
Bisht says that training and mission are as different as night and day. 'We know the entire drill when we go for training exercises or dummy operations. We know for sure that we will return. With real operations, on the other hand, we know about the team we have and our strategy. There are so many things we do not know - Are we going to return from this mission alive? Is our research updated enough to ensure the enemy, and their power is what how we know about them? The ground reality of the target and our own safety exists may have all changed by the time we reach there.'
Asked about the time he decided to join the Indian Army, Bisht says that hailing from the Pithoragarh region in the Indian state of Uttrakhand, army was an obvious choice of profession. He adds that it only helped him taking the decision as his father and grandfather had served in the Indian Army. His grandfather was martyred in the 1971 war, the former spy reveals.
Bisht had no idea about secret services when he was vying for a job in the Indian Army. 'We went to an Air Force camp in Barmer (Rajasthan, India) on a school trip where we got to see the MiG-21s. When I told my family about the trip, my father said it was a 'very sensitive area as it had a lot of intelligence people'. I had no clue about intelligence people, so I asked him. That was the first time I learnt about the intelligence and how they are never seen, but do some of the most important work for a country's safety.'
After clearing his medicals and written tests in 2003, Bisht was in Bangalore to join the Indian Army when he was asked to join the secret services. Soon, he was in Israel training for the new role. 'The best thing about training in Israel was that they never told us about the next classes in that entire two and a half years. We found out about it at the end. It was crazy, but also allowed us to keep going with the flow instead of anticipating.'
(This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.)
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