For the Bhandari brothers, sports and filmmaking have a common agenda; both have their basis on a hunt, a pursuit. And apart from films, the brothers have given their mind and body to exult with their love for cricket. Revealing this aspect of their lives, Anup Bhandari shared a photo of his brother’s cricketing avatar with City Express.
“He was the guest player at the Troy Cricket Association in Michigan, USA, which was held a couple of days ago. Even I played a match for them last year,” he mentions.
According to Anup, they have also represented Mysuru Zone at Junior level. “I was the captain of U-19 Karnataka Pre-University team while Nirup represented U-16 Karnataka Pre-University team. But we had to leave the passion for the sport behind because we were studying engineering and couldn’t dedicate much time on the field,” says the director, a left-handed opener, while Nirup is a right-handed batsman and off spinner.
Apart from the sport and films, the brother share a common adoration for Rahul Dravid, the wall of Indian cricket. “Nirup’s batting style and his personality are quite similar to Dravid and like the the ace cricket player, even he bats at number three. His cover drives and on-drives have similarities with the way Dravid plays them. In fact, my wife Neetha pointed it out when she met the cricketer for the first time,” says Anup.
According to him, since there is a connection between the brothers and Dravid, the thought of a biopic on him has not evaded their minds. “He is from Karnataka and if somebody wants to do a film, they can blindly cast Nirup because his temperament, personality and behaviour is very close to that of cricket’s gentleman. In fact, I would love to do a biopic if we come up with a good story and only if Rahul agrees,” says the director.
Anup is currently busy with the leg shooting of Rajaratha starring Nirup and Avantika Shetty, while he is also busy scripting his next with Puneeth Rajkumar.