A feature-length film on the life of Sachin Tendulkar is set for release next year with the Indian great expected to appear in it.
Mumbai-based production company 200NotOut confirmed yesterday that shooting is well under way on a film of “90 to 120 minutes” duration based on Tendulkar, who retired from the game in 2013 after playing 200 Tests for India.
Tendulkar released his autobiography Playing It My Way in November and the batsman has given the production his full blessing.
Krishna Ananthan, founder of 200NotOut, said: “This is a non-fiction film, which will capture his life, his ups and downs, his personal life, and his on-field battles.
“What we told him is that this will be made for all the memories and for all the super years that he has provided for all the Indians and for all the people from all over the world.
“We have been shooting for the past 18 months. We’ve been doing stuff with him.”
Ananthan said Tendulkar had been filmed during the MCC versus the Rest of the World game in July last year at Lord’s.
“The movie will be a nice memory, a good memory for all of us to have, and even for himself to have,” he said.
Tendulkar retired from the game having scored more than 15,000 Test runs and nearly 20,000 one-day international runs. He is the only batsman to have scored 100 international centuries.
His achievements on the field, which included being part of India’s World Cup winning team in 2011, led to him being awarded the Bharat Ratna, which is India’s highest civilian honour.
On the motivation behind the feature-length film, Ananthan said: “We always grew up watching these sports films like the ones on Michael Jordan, and Muhammad Ali etc.
“There was none bigger than Sachin Tendulkar, so that’s where the story and motivation came.
“Time stood still when he batted, so we wanted to have these memories captured in reel for generations to see what he meant to the country and what he did.”
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