It’s the season for Hockey. Not just for the sports enthusiasts, but for Ollywood’s superstar Anubhav Mohanty too. The actor is gearing up to start shooting for a biopic on Hockey legend Dilip Tirkey.
According to reports, the film was supposed to get released ahead of Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup. However, it got delayed as the actor injured his leg on the sets of his last film, Prem Kumar: The salesman of the year, sources said.
The shoot dates of the film are yet to be announced. The photoshoot for the first look poster release of Anubhav as Dilip Tirkey was conducted recently. Currently, the actor is on a strict diet to reduce weight for fitting into Dilip’s character.
“During the earlier half of his career, Dilip was very lean. I have to look like him. It is very difficult to act in a biopic because you need to resemble the person’s looks too. Experts are working on my diet to help me shed some more kilograms for the film,” Anubhav said.
Meanwhile, the actor is also excited about the Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup. “It is a proud moment for all Odia people. We should be thankful to the State for taking up such an initiative. It is great to see the name ‘Odisha’ written on the jerseys worn by the Indian players,” he added.
Bhaijan’s tryst with Bhaijan
Often dubbed as Bhaijan of Ollywood, Anubhav, met Bollywood’s Bhaijan Salman Khan at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, where the latter performed to endorse Hockey on Wednesday evening.
“I am a big fan of Salman Khan. Earlier, my friends used to tease me a lot by taking ill about Salman Khan. I used to protest against anything wrong being said about the actor. I celebrate his birthday every year. I and Barsha met Salman on the sets of Sultan. I had shown him videos of songs featuring me. We also talked about Ollywood and the kind of films being made in regional cinema industry,” he recalled.
As a teenager, Anubhav’s favourite movie of Salman Khan was Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya. He had watched the film for more than 70 times. “I used to take off my shirt and copy his dance moves from the song—Oh,Oh, Jaane Jana”