National Award winner Ashwini Chaudhury recently started work on a new film, Dhoop, which deals with the trials and tribulations of a war hero's family.

Based on Kargil hero Captain Anuj Nayyar of 17 Jat, who was killed in the southwest sector of Tiger Hills on July 5, 1999, Chaudhury says, "My hero is the father who fights the bureaucracy to give his dead son his due."

"When Ashwini came to me with the script," says Om Puri who will play the father, "I promptly asked him if the father is a professor in Delhi. The moment I connected, I wanted to play the role. After a long time, I will play a role and be part of sensible cinema."

Chaudhury -- who won the National Award for his Haryanvi film Laddo -- wanted Revathy to play the wife, who is upset with her husband for sending their son to the army. "When I called her in Chennai, she was reluctant. But I insisted and flew down to Chennai to narrate the subject. She immediately said yes."

Revathy makes a comeback to Hindi cinema after almost a decade -- her last being Priyadarshan's Muskurahat (1992). "I heard the trauma of the family. I wanted to be a part of the film as it is based on a real life story and a very recent one at that. You have to hear the story about the problems parents face after a son goes away. It is a post-Kargil war film. A fight against the system," she says.

Former Miss India-Universe Gul Panag will make her movie debut with Dhoop. She plays Anuj Nayyar's fiancée who fought the system along with his father. "I wanted this to be my debut film. I would not miss a chance like this," she says. Incidentally, Nayyar's fiancée refused to meet Gul.

The film goes on the floors on February 16 with its first schedule in Delhi. The next two schedules will be held in Mumbai in March.