Bindra biopic aims to inspire youngsters to take up shooting as sport

Mumbai: In a country where cricket is a religion, makers of the proposed Bollywood biopic on former world and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra hope the film will encourage youngsters to consider shooting seriously as a sport.

Bindra became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic Games -- he achieved the feat at the quadrennial event held in Beijing in 2008.

Indian target shooters fared pretty well in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Australia.

Young shooters Manu Bhaker and Anish Bhanwala shined in the Gold Coast Games along with experienced marksmen like Heena Sindhu and Tejaswini Sawant.

"This year Indian shooters picked up a lot of gold medals and it is entirely because of Abhinav as he showed the path. His gold medal has inspired entire generation of shooters. Abhinav's achievements are inspiring.

"One of our main motivation to make the film is that more young people should get inspired to take up shooting as a profession. I think Indians can become a world power in shooting," sources close to the makers told PTI.

Bindra is actively involved in the biopic being made on his extraordinary journey, that will have actor Harshvardhan Kapoor playing his part.

"Abhinav is aware of everything that we are doing. Anytime there is a significant development in the script, we run it through him. He is very happy in terms of the way the story has been made," the sources added.

Bollywood filmmakers are smitten by the journey of sports personalities and movies like on former Indian track-and-field sprinter Milkha Singh and cricketer M S Dhoni, only reflect the love the Hindi cinema has for sports.

The yet-to-be-titled movie is being adapted from Bindra's autobiography -- 'A Shot at History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold and Beyond'.

"Ours is a unique biopic, the format of the biopic is different. We can't reveal what is the uniqueness. Though it is adapted from a book, which Abhinav himself has written, but the way it has been adapted it is unique. We are presenting the narrative in a different way. It is not a standard biopic format," the sources said.

When asked can one expect to see Abhinav himself in the film, the sources revealed, "Of course, but how we are planning to do it we can't talk about it."

The real life father-son duo of Anil Kapoor and Harshvardhan will be sharing screen space for the first time in the 35-year-old Bindra's biopic.

Currently, Harshvardhan is busy with his upcoming film "Bhavesh Joshi" and once the film releases" on May 25, the actor would begin his full-fledged training in shooting for the biopic from June.

"He does prep work in between when he gets time. Harsh is very passionate about authenticity. He wants to be close to Abhinav's style as far as possible for which he has been consulting this great woman shooter of India Suma Shirur," the sources said.

Anil would be seen playing the role of Abhinav's father in the movie.

"He (Anil) has spend sometime with Abhinav's father just to get acquainted with the story and pick up nuances for his character. For the father's character there are more Punjabi touches and Anil ji is would be getting it."

The film is likely to go on floors from October and major portions will be shot in Punjab and a chunk of it will be shot abroad as well.