A movie on RN Kao – the former RAW chief has been announced. Bollywood producer and director – Karan Johar will produce the movie on the life of late Rameshwar Nath Kao (RN Kao), the founder of India’s foreign intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
Turning pages into frames, one thrill at a time.
Bringing to you an adaptation of Nitin Gokhale’s book – “R.N.Kao: Gentleman Spymaster” to the silver screen. More information coming soon!@apoorvamehta18 #AmritpalBindra @anandntiwari @DharmaMovies #StillAndStillMediaCollective pic.twitter.com/gsHoWIHknn— Karan Johar (@karanjohar) January 9, 2020
Johar took to Twitter to announce the movie, saying that the film would be based on a biography of the spymaster. The tweet reads, “An adaptation of the book R.N. Kao: Gentleman Spymaster written by Nitin Gokhale, the film will tell the story of Kao who founded India’s external intelligence agency – RAW and how he went on to become a success story in the world of international espionage.”
Who was RN Kao?
RN. Kao was India’s first and foremost spymaster. He started his career in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) however in 1968 Indira Gandhi handpicked Kao to create India’s foreign spy agency. That led to the creation of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW).
Under him, two of R&AW’s greatest triumphs during the 1970s were during the Bangladesh War and the Sikkim merger in which it played a vital role.
RN Kao passed away in on January 20, 2002. He was survived by his wife, Mrs Malini Kao, and daughter, Mrs Achla Kaul.
Rameshwar Nath Kao joined the Indian Police (IP) in 1940 and was assigned the UP cadre. A post-graduate in literature, he found himself in the Police Training College, Moradabad, where he was uncomfortable with his British officials, who had only written their Senior Cambridge exams and were too disorderly for his liking.
Always dressed immaculately, Kao had a fetish for cleanliness and perfection. He came away on deputation to the Intelligence Bureau just before 1947 and set up camp for the rest of his distinguished career.
He was deputed to jointly investigate (along with the Chinese and the British) the crash of the “Kashmir Princess” just before the Bandung Conference of 1956. The plane was carrying Chinese delegates to the conference.
Fortunately, the delegation leader, PM Chou en Lai, was not on board. It is generally known that there was immense pressure from the Chinese side to involve the KMT government, but he did not budge.
In 1963, RN Kao became the founding director of the Air Research Centre (ARC). Five years later, he broke from the IB, forming the Research and Analysis Wing or RAW.
With the unrest in East Pakistan and the 1971 war came his finest hour. The RAW and the Directorate General Security, also under him, played an astronomical role in the entire affair.
The Janata Government eyed him suspiciously but never found anything against him or the RAW. (The IB, cleverer by far, got away unharmed). With Indira Gandhi’s return in 1980, RN Kao came back as special adviser to the Cabinet, overseeing both IB and RAW.
