After ‘Johnny Gaddar’, Sriram Raghavan offered Dharmendra a lead role in RAW in Agent Vinod opposite Zeenat Aman. But Dharmendra said: “It will be India and Pakistan. I don’t want to do that.” Scheduling also conflicted. They later came together for Ikkis, Dharmendra’s last film – a biopic on Arun Khetarpal.
After ‘Johnny Gaddar’, director Sriram Raghavan and late actor Dharmendra wanted to work together again. That’s how Equis happened. However, this was Dharmendra’s last role in the film. Recently, Raghavan said that he also offered the film ‘Agent Vinod’ (starring Saif Ali Khan) to Dharmendra. But the veteran actor said no because of the India vs India match.
Pakistan
story.
Dharmendra has been offered the role of RAW President in ‘Agent Vinod’.
At a Screenwriters Association (SWA) event, Sriram shared how things evolved after ‘Johnny Gaddar’. “After Johnny Jedar, I told him I want to work with you again, and he said: Yes, of course. When I was doing ‘Agent Vinod’, I remember we wrote a role for the RAW boss, and his counterpart was him
Zeenat Aman
; We wanted it to be in Russia. So, the story was older and newer,” he said, noting that he wrote the script for a major part of RAW opposite Zeenat Aman in Russia for the Saif Ali Khan film.
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Dharmendra rejects ‘Agent Vinod’ because of the Indo-Pakistani angle
“But it was all at the writing stage. When I met him and told him about the role, he said: ‘RAW, head, yaar, tum log wahi (You guys do it), it will be India and Pakistan, I don’t want to do that’. He didn’t want to get involved in that; I said: ‘I respect that.'” Sriram added, “Then we didn’t pursue that path at all.”
Dharmendra was unable to join due to scheduling conflicts
Earlier, Sriram had explained that conflicting shooting locations and schedules prevented Dharmendra from joining ‘Agent Vinod’, despite his interest.
“We were shooting in different cities and had different schedules. It was a small film of Agent Vinod, which was my next film after Johnny Gaddar. We are selfish as directors, and think, ‘I want this actor again.'” “When I got the story of Ikkis, I felt like this was sent from God,” he shared with PTI.
This encore was intended as his follow-up to “Johnny Gaddar,” but “Ikkis” seemed like the perfect divine opportunity later on.
Dharmendra reunites with Sriram in Ikkis
Years later, the duo has finally reunited after years for the film Ikkis, backed by Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films and released in theaters last December 2025. This biopic highlights Lt. Arun Ketarpal, India’s youngest Param Vir Chakra recipient. Dharmendra took on the role of Arun’s father, ML Khetarpal.
