Bollywood's love affair with Cricket continues as Ayushmann set to play Dada'

HYDERABAD: A biopic on one of India’s best cricket team captains – Sourav Ganguly , fondly known as ‘Dada’ – was announced back in 2021. However, the producers Luv Ranjan and Ankur Garg haven’t made any more announcements ever since.

It was being speculated that Ranbir Kapoor would be playing the role of Sourav Ganguly in the biopic, but with the ‘Rockstar’ actor refuting the rumors saying that he was not approached for the role, rumor mills had gone silent.

Now, there are reports of the makers zeroing in on Ayushmann Khurrana to play the cricketer’s role in the biopic.

According to reports, the film will go on floors by the year-end. Interestingly it is being reported that Superstar Rajinikanth’s daughter Aishwarya Rajinikanth, who helmed Dhanush and Shruti Hassan’s  psychological thriller ‘3’ is being considered as the director.

If the film comes into being, it will continue Bollywood’s love affair with cricket and biopics on cricketers.

Here are some of the biopics made on cricketers:

M.S Dhoni: The Untold Story: Written and directed by Neeraj Panday, this biopic, as the name suggests was based on the life of India’s most successful captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The film starred late Sushant Singh Rajput in the titular role while Kiara Advani played the role of Sakshi Singh Dhoni (Dhoni’s wife) and Disha Patani as Priayanka Jha (Dhoni’s girlfriend).

83: The movie was based on the Indian National Cricket team led by Kapil Dev which famously won the 1983 Cricket World Cup. The film was directed by Kabir Khan and has Ranveer Singh play the legendry Kapil Dev.  The movie starred Deepika Padukone as Romi Devi, Kapil Dev’s wife, Jiiva as Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Pankaj Tripathi as PR Man Singh and Tahir Raj Bhasin as Sunil Gavaskar among others.

Chakda Xpress: This biopic on Jhulan Goswami, one of the fastest and greatest women bowlers of all time, was directed by Prosit Roy and had Anuskha Sharma star as the fast bowler.

Shabash Mithu: Taapsee Pannu played Mithali Raj, one of the most successful batters in international cricket of all times. The film is based on the former India Women’s captain. It starred Mumtaz Sorcar as Jhulan Goswami and Vijay Raaz as Mithali's Coach Sampath.

Shabash Mithu was directed by Srijit Mukherji.

Azhar:  This Tony D’Souza directorial was based on the life of former Indian cricketer, controversy’s favourite child, Mohammad Azhatuddin, who is also amongst the best captains of India. Emraan Hashmi played Azharuddin, while Prachi Desai played his first wife Naureen and Nargis Fakhri was seen as Azharuddin’s second wife Sangeeta.