Telugu star Nani looking forward to Hindi remake of Jersey

Actor Nani expressed enthusiasm about the Hindi remake of his Telugu sports drama Jersey (2019) and said he was happy that the story would reach even more people in India.

In the remake, Shahid Kapoor will play a retired local cricketer nearing 40 years of age who decides to make a comeback for the sake for his son, a role that was originally essayed by Nani.

In a recent interview with the IANS news agency, Nani said that the fact that the film was being remade was a compliment in itself. "When it comes to Jersey, I am so glad that a story so beautiful will be narrated to a bigger audience," he stated.

Rather than simply dub the original, which was a huge hit and received widespread critical acclaim, director Gowtam Tinnanuri has opted to recreate the film entirely. It will be interesting to see how many of the fundamental aspects are literally and figuratively translated to the new version and what portions will be entirely fresh, if any.

"Story-wise, I have not made any change. But, the performances of the actors in the remake make all the difference. I am really enjoying this process," Tinnanuri told the Indian Express newspaper.

Jersey highlights the relationship between Indian cricket and the passion of its supporters, and those who enjoy the game will definitely appreciate the movie.

In the meantime, the country's long-awaited cricket showpiece, the Indian Premier League, is underway and fans are completely engrossed in the sport now more than ever.

Millions of fans around the country are tuning in to follow the action from home as this year's edition was moved to the UAE, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

But their passion doesn't just end with watching the sport. Many fans will also be looking to support their preferred teams at bookmakers for IPL betting, with the Mumbai Indians and Hyderabad in the lead to win the 13th edition.

There was some speculation that the movie was based on the life of the late Indian cricketer Raman Lamba, which Tinnanuri has refuted, saying that the film has a unique and original story.

But there are fictional elements that retain the balance between reality and fantasy. Movie and cricket fans will pick up on these throughout the drama.

In terms of cricketers making it big late in their careers, a real-life example exists in Pravin Tambe. The Mumbai leg-spinner, who is almost 50 years old, was a relative cricketing nobody a few years ago.

More recently, he has played in the IPL and the Caribbean Premier League. Tambe's story is a tidy parallel to Kapoor's in Jersey.

About 30% of the shooting for the remake had been completed by the time the project was halted back in March and filming is expected to resume soon. It is expected that the film will be released in 2021.