Odishatv Bureau
Mumbai: Makers of `Patiala House` have roped in a few former and current cricket players to feature with Akshay Kumar, essaying the role a pace bowler, who wants to play for the English cricket team but faces opposition from his father and family patriarch Rishi Kapoor.

Producer Bhushan Kumar (of T-series) said director Nikhil Advani was very keen that the producers do justice to the script and thats when the idea to bring in cricketers clicked.

Former and current cricketers like Nasir Hussain, Brendon McCullum, Herschelle Gibbs, Kieron Pollard, Andrews Symonds, Kamran Akmal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Graham Gooch, Wasim Akram, Matthew Hayden are part of the matches in the film featuring the 44-year-old Bollywood star.

"In the film, Akshay is playing for England and it is the World Cup that they are playing for. So it needed to have a lot of known faces to be seen with Akshay. Thats when we approached these players, sent them the script and got them on board," Bhushan said.

Speaking about the experience of shooting with these cricket stars, he said, "It was amazing... we had thought that Akshay would require a lot of practise and may be we would have to cheat and re-create shots but he played like a professional with them."

He says the movie is not about cricket but about the father-son conflict, where cricket plays a catalyst.

The film which also stars Anushka Sharma and Dimple Kapadia among others, releases on February 11.

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