Mumbai: Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said he is going to produce a biopic on late party supremo Bal Thackeray.

"This will be a full-fledged commercial film, to be produced by me, which will reveal the true characteristics and persona of the grand leader which Balasaheb was," Raut, a Rajya Sabha member who also edits the Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', told PTI.

Refusing to reveal names of the director and actors of the film, Raut, who closely worked with Bal Thackeray for over two decades, said the film will be formally announced and its trailer released on December 21 in the presence of Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

The shooting will start in January and the film is expected to be ready for release by early 2019, Raut said.

"The film will be shot mostly in Mumbai and many of the scenes will be shot on actual locations where the events took place. We will take around 3-4 months to complete the shoot," Raut said.

Bal Thackeray, founder of the Shiv Sena, died on November 17, 2012 at the age of 86.