On reel, at last: Bihar cadre IPS officer Raveendran Sankaran in a still from the Bhojpuri movie Dewarva Pe Manwa Dole. Telegraph picture

A childhood dream of appearing on the silver screen has come true for Tamil Nadu-born Bihar-cadre IPS officer Raveendran Sankaran.

The 1995-batch IPS officer is set to make his debut in a Bhojpuri movie.

At present, the officer is posted as deputy inspector-general (DIG), human rights and legal affairs. Raveendran is performing the role of a boatman in the underproduction movie Dewarva Pe Manwa Dole.

Directed by Parmanshu, a few scenes of the film were recently shot on the bank of Saryu in Uttar Pradesh’s Balia district.

Ashok Kumar, who has a number of hits to his credit, is the producer of this movie. The film, due to be released in May this year, is based on the cultural significance of Bihar.

“It was a new experience for me to work in a movie. Though I didn’t face any problem in delivering the dialogues, my Tamil accent was a cause of concern,” said Raveendran.

He added: “Though I speak Hindi fluently, the pronunciation of Bhojpuri words was a bit difficult for me. I am thankful to the team which helped me in pronouncing the exact words.”

Smriti Sinha, one of the two female actors in the film, is the daughter of a deputy superintendent of police, B.P. Sinha, posted in Koderma, Jharkhand. The other female actor, Anjana Singh, is from Lucknow.

Raveendra said he could not turn down the offer to work in the film when Ashok approached him in February 2012. “As a child I had dreamt of becoming an actor. It was like a dream come true,” he said.

Raveendran, a film enthusiast, had even got admitted to a Chennai-based film institute in 1989. Later he appeared for the UPSC examination. “I was allotted Bihar cadre. When I joined here initially I had to face a lot of problems as I didn’t know Hindi. My seniors helped me a lot in learning the language. Even my wife Mallar Vizhi, also a Bihar-cadre IPS officer, is now fluent in Hindi,” he said.

Raveendran is the second Bihar-cadre IPS officer to act in a Bhojpuri film.

Earlier, 1988-batch officer Arvind Pandey, who is at present posted as IG (weaker section) in the Criminal Investigation Department, had acted in a Ajay Devgn-starrer Bhojpur film.