Sania

Hyderabad, June 4: The court’s loss is the screen’s gain.

Indian tennis’s pin-up girl Sania Mirza is set to do a five-minute cameo opposite debutant Naga Chaitanya, the younger son of actor Nagarjuna, in a film directed by Puri Jagannath, the Andhra film-maker who has made a habit of launching star sons.

Jagannath had earlier launched Maheshbabu, son of popular actor G. Krishna, and N.T. Rama Rao’s grandson, better known as NTR Junior.

Nagarjuna, it appears, had personally approached Sania for this role. Earlier, too, he had sounded her out for a film he was acting in but Sania had turned him down. Her eyes were then focused on the tennis courts.

But now that she is off the playing arena, thanks to a wrist injury that aggravated during the last Qatar Open in Doha and kept her off the French Open, which began on Sunday, Sania hasn’t said no.

As for Naga Chaitanya, the young man was last heard taking lessons in voice modulation, dancing and martial arts in preparation for his debut.

Sania, however, hopes to return to competitive tennis with the Edgbaston Open in Birmingham, a dress rehearsal for Wimbledon.

If injuries have plagued Sania throughout her short tennis career, off-court controversies ha ve also done their bit.

The tennis star had angered some city clerics, who issued a fatwa against her for wearing “short dresses” on court.

Her woes were compounded after Hyderabad police slapped a bill of Rs 2 lakh as charges for two armed escorts they had provided after an attack on her Jubilee Hills home.

The police have now withdrawn the guards. Joint commissioner Kripanand Tripathi Ujala said Sania didn’t need protection any more but has to foot the bill for the security she had been provided. Sania, the officer added, hasn’t paid up even after two notices.

Sania didn’t comment but her father Imran Mirza said: “We have given up the security on our own.”