When Sony announced a biopic of former cricketer Jhulan Goswami in 2017, it failed to follow up with a casting decision. This week, that might have been addressed, albeit unofficially. Actress Anushka Sharma has been trending since yesterday after pictures of her with Ms Goswami surfaced on Instagram fan pages, prompting speculation that the biopic had finally found its reel Jhulan. No formal announcement has been made yet but the Internet certainly cannot think a good reason for the actress and the former women's cricket team captain to be hanging out together.
In the pictures, Anushka Sharma and Jhulan Goswami can be seen walking around on the cricket pitch at what appears to be the Eden Gardens in Kolkata with cameras in front of them. The Sui Dhaaga actress can be seen sporting the old Indian cricket team jersey in the pictures. Despite the lack of official confirmation, the viral photos have got fans excited already.
Part of the excitement hinges on the fact that the actress is married to cricketing hero Virat Kohli. A comment from one of Anushka Sharma's fans read, "It will be great to see Mrs Kohli as cricketer. Excited and can't wait." Others are convinced that the film will be a "blockbuster." An excited fan posted in the comments section: "Finally she's back with a cricket film."
Anushka's fan pages have been flooded with these pictures:
Have a look at what Anushka Sharma's fans have been saying:
Anushka Sharma's fan's comment
Anushka Sharma's fan's comment
According to a Bollywood Hungama report, Anushka Sharma was in Kolkata on Saturday for the shooting and was on sets till late night and returned to Mumbai on Sunday. Anushka was indeed spotted at the Mumbai airport on Sunday morning. Some unconfirmed reports from 2019 state that the biopic is being directed by filmmaker Prosit Roy, who previously worked on Anushka's film Pari.
The original biopic announcement was made in May 2017:
It is a milestone day. @SonyPicsIndia and #DunamisEntertainment comes together to celebrate @JhulanG10 in a biopic. This is a must see. What a journey and now on celluloid. We announced at the celebration of #ElevenGodsAndABillionIndians @rajneesh_chopra @GBspeak @vivekkrishnani pic.twitter.com/FuJ5cyAlz0
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) May 17, 2018
In 2017, news agency PTI reported that the movie was tentatively titled Chakdaha Express and would track Jhulan Goswami's rise in the cricketing world, her journey from her hometown in West Bengal's Nadia district to Lord's Stadium, where India lost to England in the women's World Cup final in 2017.
Filmmaker Susanta Das, who was reported to be directing the film at one time, had told PTI in 2017: "We have seen MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar's biopics. But this will be the first biopic on women's cricket." About the casting of the movie, he told PTI: "I cannot tell you the names as they are yet to be signed. But we are in talks with leading Bollywood actresses."
This will be Anushka Sharma's first biopic - if indeed she has been cast - but the 31-year-old actress is no stranger to sports films, having played a wrestler in Salman Khan's Sultan to great acclaim in 2016. Anushka Sharma was last seen in the movie Zero by filmmaker Anand L Rai alongside stars Katrina Kaif and Shah Rukh Khan.
Meanwhile, Bollywood is currently making a spate of sports biopics. Taapsee Pannu has been roped in to play cricketer Mithali Raj in a biopic titled Shabaash Mithu and Parineeti Chopra stars as Saina Nehwal in an upcoming film on the badminton champion. The Kabir Khan-directed '83, while not a biopic, is based on India's first World Cup win and stars an ensemble cast led by Ranveer Singh as Kapil Dev.
