Sachin Tendulkar in Sachin Tendulkar Biopic

MUMBAI: One of the coming Fridays "the date hasn't been decided yet "2,000 theatres across the world will get ready for a blockbuster release of a feature film made on the life and times of Sachin Tendulkar.

Featuring the master blaster himself, the yet-to-be-titled movie will capture his cricket and personal life in great detail. Apart from acting in real-time, Tendulkar will also chip in with his inputs for the film.

The film-maker"Mumbai-based production company 200 Not Out, which has over 150 advertisement and short films to its credit"bagged the rights to make the film from World Sports Group (WSG). It has roped in James Erskine, a London-based award-winning writer, director and producer, to direct the film.
WSG manages Tendulkar's brand and commercial interests across the world. The work on the movie started a year ago and is presently being shot in real-time. Many personalities across the world are also contributing to it.

200 Not Out, it is learned, is also in touch with cricket boards across the world to access video footage from the past which will be weaved into the movie.

Erskine directed 'One Night in Turin', which was released nationwide in the run-up to the football World Cup in 2010. He has also directed the film 'Battle of the Sexes' which captures the story of the most watched tennis match ever, between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. His latest work released earlier in 2014, is 'Pantani: The Accidental Death of a Cyclist', a film on Marco Pantani, one of the most flamboyant and popular cyclists of the 1990s. He has also directed a cricket film, 'From the Ashes'.

Speaking with TOI, Ravi Bhagchandka, the founder of 200 Not Out, said, "We decided to work with Erskine after studying his many incredible films involving sports personalities. This will be the first time that he will be working in this part of the world. We will work with the best in the business for the film to be a fitting tribute to the unparalleled achievements of Sachin Tendulkar."

Apart from following the phenomenal rise of Tendulkar, the film will also reveal a few aspects of his life which have never been heard of or seen before. The superbat's life as a young boy living in the suburbs of Mumbai, his early days of school and cricket, his life outside the game, marriage to Anjali and his following worldwide will all be a part of the movie apart from the game he played for more than 25 years.

Bhagchandka, a former club cricketer from Mumbai, says after playing the game himself, he was in a position to understand the mammoth effect Tendulkar must have had on millions of fans across the world. "Someone had to capture these memories for the generations to come who will want to know what the Tendulkar-era was like," says Bhagchandka.

A leading sports broadcasting company is learned to have picked the marketing rights for the movie. "It will be a worldwide release in more than 2000 theatres," Bhagchandka said.

The makers of the movie did not want to make a documentary or a biopic on the cricketer's life, it is learned, and opted for a feature film after the former cricketer himself gave the go-ahead to the project and agreed to be part of it.