HYDERABAD: They say it takes a lot of hard work, passion and even luck to become a hero in the film industry. But all this young man did was to play some serious cricket, which finally transported him to the status of a rising star. Twenty-seven-year-old Aadarsh Balakrishna, a cricketer-turned-actor, was recently seen in Ram Gopal Verma’s Katha Screenplay Direction Appalraju , which won him accolades for his performance. Balakrishna first made his debut in Nagesh Kukunoor’s Iqbal (2005) where he, incidentally played a cricketer with negative shades.
“Cricket and cinema has had an interesting relationship with my life. It was cricket that initially landed me in movies and I surprisingly even got to play a cricketer in few movies. Now my next release is called Cricket, Girls and Beer where I again play a cricketer,” he chuckles.
Having represented the state in Under-22 cricket tournaments, Balakrishna set his sights on becoming a professional cricketer but destiny had other plans. “When I was in college, Nagesh Kukunoor and the film’s team visited the academy Nagesh Kukunoor and the film’s team visited the academy where I usually practice cricket,” he explains. “I was spotted and asked to audition the same day. The next thing I knew, I was cast in Iqbal .”
Though he sports a macho look now, Balakrishna was a shy student in school. He was often bullied by girls when he was in Class 7. “I studied at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. A few girls decided to cordon me in a group. I got nervous and started running towards the playground. When the girls followed me, I suddenly tripped and fell much to my embarrassment. The next day, however, there was a ‘sorry’ card on my desk from them,” he narrates.
Even in Classes 11 and 12 at the Ramakrishna Junior College, Balakrishna spent most of his time practising cricket. But what he treasures are the days he spent at Nizam Degree College, Basheerbagh. “I was quite popular in my college because of cricket and was considered a Rahul Dravid lookalike. But after Iqbal , I started getting more attention,” he says.
One of the most memorable incidents is the fight with a rival softball team on the field. “I was part of the softball team in college and we were playing the finals of an inter-college tournament. Tempers started running high between the two teams as each were trying to outdo the other. Finally in the end we won it,” he recalls.
In his euphoria, Balakrishna did a ‘Sourav Ganguly’ by removing his shirt and waving it. “I didn’t realise that I was close to the opposite team’s camp. Before I could react, the whole team pounced on me and attacked me with whatever they could find. Soon my team members joined in and what followed was a full fledged war with bats, helmets and wickets. I came out of the incident with just a few bruises,” he recounts.
Balakrishna will be playing in the forthcoming Celebrity Cricket League for the Tollywood team.
— rahul.d@expressbuzz.com
