Gautam Gulati will be playing the role of a cricketer-turned-commentator, Ravish in the film Azhar.
Bigg Boss season 8 winner Gautam Gulati is all set to make his Bollywood debut with Tony D’souza directed, Azhar. The film is based on the life and times of one of India’s most loved cricket captains, Mohammed Azharuddin and chronicles his rise and fall as country’s most controversial sportsman yet.
Gautam will be playing the role of a cricketer-turned-commentator, Ravish in the film.
Commenting on his character, Gautam said, “When I read the script I instantly fell in love with the character. He’s a flamboyant, sophisticated cricketer who had played an important role in Mohammad Azharuddin’s life when he was just starting out”.
As a part of his preparation for the role, Gautam had to undergo a two-month long workshop with the director before shooting for his part. He also watched commentary videos. “You’ll see me doing a lot of commentary, so besides the reading sessions I watched a lot of commentating videos as part of the prep. Cricket commentary is not an easy job; it requires presence of mind and impromptu lines. It was great fun.”
Gautam also shared great camaraderie with Emraan Hashmi on the sets. The actor described an incident when they were shooting a pool scene and Emraan casually mentioned how he liked a trailer of the MTV Big F where he was kissing a girl, “Sir aap hi se seekha hai,” laughed Gautam.
The actor, who shot for a four-month long schedule, also got the opportunity to play cricket with the real life Azhar. “It was during the early days of the shoot when he was on the sets to train Emraan sir, “he said.
The film stars Emraan Hashmi, Prachi Desai, Nargis Fakhri and Lara Dutta along with others. Produced by Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor, N. P. Singh and Sneha Rajani, the film is slated to release on May 13, 2016.
