If you switch on your television set during this week’s India-Australia test match, be ready for a starry encounter. Apart from Anushka Sharma, now Emraan Hashmi will also be seen on the stands cheering for Virat Kohli and company. Reason? He is in Sydney currently to watch the last of the series, so as to prepare for the Mohammad Azharuddin biopic in which he is playing the central protagonist.
Confirms our source:
He left for Australia after wrapping up another schedule of Hamari Adhuri Kahani. Director Mohit Suri is busy enjoying his paternity period and Emraan had a few days off too. To best utilize the time available on hand, he felt that a visit to stadium in Sydney would be a good idea. Though he has seen quite a few matches on TV at home, he wanted to gain a firsthand experience of a live encounter. After all, he would be spending quite a few days in various stadiums shooting for the film. It only helps if he gets used to the ambience, noise, pressure situation and most importantly, conduct of the players.
Though Emraan has been in touch with ex-Test captain Azharuddin for quite some time now, he felt that it was prudent to be a part of the tense Indo-Australia series up, close and personal. Moreover, it also acts as a quick and short break for him to rejuvenate himself, before going back to his shooting schedules.
When contacted, director Tony confirmed the developments:
Yes, Emraan and I spoke about it and we felt it would be a good idea for him to watch the match. It is one thing to read about something in a script and another to experience it closely with your own eyes. He is a perfectionist in such matters and is willing to take notes too. We would be exchanging those on his return and see how we could bring in further nuances into the script.
Why is he not traveling as well?
Smiles Tony, “I would have loved to. However, I am busy with pre-production. This is one film which really requires a lot of things to be in place well before we start calling the shots. While I take care of those, I am sure Emraan would come back with quite a few anecdotes to share.”
We would like to hear more about that as well.