Astride a silver coach

Now that charming Olympian shuttler P.V. Sindhu and her much-celebrated coach Pullela Gopichand have become familiar names, we can finally talk about a much-needed biopic that has been quietly in the offing for the last two years.

There's a progressive National Award winning filmmaker from Hyderabad whose trajectory has been somewhat like Nagesh Kukunoor's. An IBM techie from the US, this young man called Praveen Sattaru (do Google him) decided to chuck it all and return to base to make movies. Chandamama Kathalu, an anthology that he directed in Telugu, won him a National Award in 2014. Since then, in between other projects, Praveen has been working on a biopic on fellow Hyderabadi, Gopichand.

There was a whisper in Mumbai a little while ago that Rana Daggubatti, the big bad hunk of last year's Baahubali, had shown more than a passing interest in the Gopichand project. It was being said that Rana was the unsung force who had brought Karan Johar on board after Baahubali was ready, giving S.S. Rajamouli's jumbo-budget regional film an all-India appeal. As most people know, Karan Johar had distributed the Hindi version of Baahubali and his name in the credits and promos was instrumental in turning the Telugu film into a commercially attractive proposition for the Hindi speaking audience. Rumour has it that Rana, who lives in Hyderabad but parties in Mumbai, had much to do with pulling off that coup.

It was therefore also believed that Rana would get Karan Johar on board once again for the Pullela Gopichand biopic. But out here in Mumbai, one simultaneously heard that Karan was looking at backing a biopic on hockey legend Dhyan Chand as well. Knowing Karan, there was no way he'd green signal two sports-based biopics at the same time.

Well, those were the months before the Olympics and only sports enthusiasts, Hyderabadis and the well-informed knew about Gopichand. So, however inspirational his story, little was heard about Praveen's film on Gopichand, the Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award winner who had spotted and coached India's other badminton pride, Saina Nehwal.

Until Rio happened.

In the last few days, the biopic on Gopichand has suddenly, and not so surprisingly, become hot property with quite a few corporates wanting to back Praveen's script. The latest is that Rana Daggubatti is no longer playing India's ace badminton coach and ex-champ. Remember Sudheer Babu who played the antagonist in the Tiger Shroff-Shraddha Kapoor starrer Baaghi? Sudheer had been picked for the Hindi film because the makers needed an actor who could match the physique, kickass martial arts skills and the energy levels of Tiger Shroff. Sudheer had just the right profile for the role in Baaghi and now he's also prescription-perfect for the role of Gopichand.

What makes Sudheer Babu (he's also Namrata Shirodkar's superstar husband Mahesh Babu's brother) the apt choice to play Pullela is that he's been a badminton champ too. At one time, Sudheer was ranked the No. 1 badminton player of both Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

In a fantastic coincidence, Sudheer has also played badminton alongside Pullela as his doubles partner. Which makes it all hearteningly serendipitous, like this was how and when it was meant to be - a project with a badminton champ-turned-actor playing a badminton legend and coach, directed by a National Award winner.

Gopichand's biopic, we hear, will now fittingly be a biggie and will be made in four languages - Hindi, English, Telugu and Tamil. The project is all set to take off this December. And all that you've just read here will be breaking news in a few weeks' time.

Meanwhile, the hero of Baaghi has been making news too, as his next film A Flying Jatt reached the theatres on Janmashtami. Tiger Shroff was given all the trappings of a huge blockbuster star at a special screening of the film on Wednesday. Mom Ayesha reached the venue hours earlier with bestie Ana Singh (the stylish dress designer who has been a Shroff family insider for decades).

Tiger's arrival was whispered in Ayesha's ear by his manager while he was whisked away with great secrecy three floors up after the mandatory clicks with cameramen downstairs.

Tiger had seen the film the night before at a cast and crew trial and had messaged his mom, "Mom, I think you'll be proud of me." Ayesha and Jackie have every reason to be proud of their son who slogs over his butter-smooth dance moves and limb-stretching action scenes. He's got an endearing vulnerability too, on his face.

But alas! The poorly executed A Flying Jatt has deservedly fetched tepid reviews and opened tamely at the box office.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author