Playing it the right way

g_prithwish@dnaindia.net
Seems like the filmmakers of Victory, in which Harman Baweja plays a Jaisalmer-born boy who makes it big as a professional cricketer — a true rags-to-riches story, have gone all out to make the film look as realistic as possible.

Not only did they organise a six-month special training session for Harman with former Indian cricketer Praveen Amre to make him perfect the art of playing the game but also went ahead to get a special permission from Cricket Australia to shoot during some matches in the recently concluded India vs Australia one-day series.

“We are making a film on cricket and we wanted to make sure that everything was perfect,” said Victory’s director Ajit Pal Mangat.

Harman actually went through a rigorous training programme to perfect his gaming skills.
“Harman has been trained for six months by Praveen Amre to perfect his game. He is the protagonist of the film and he was playing alongside professional cricketers from across the world. He couldn’t have looked like a mug with the bat,” Mangat added.

Sports-based films fall flat if they do not have a racy-pace and lot of energy and the director added that live audience reactions were shot during matches to replicate the tension of a crunch one-day match onto the screen.

“We have shot crowd reactions of five matches — three India-Australia matches and two others. In fact, Cricket Australia also allowed Harman to walk into the pitch at Melbourne and Sydney. It was great for our film. The shots will look very real and full of energy. It will keep the audiences glued to their seats,” Mangat added.