I am dreaming of cover drives now, says Taapsee Pannu about preparing for Mithali Raj’s biopic

Taapsee Pannu is one of the most talented actresses in Bollywood at the moment and she has been portraying many characters in biopics like Soorma and Saand ki Aankh. However, she will be taking on her biggest challenge when she plays Indian women’s team captain Mithali Raj in her upcoming biopic, “Shabaash Mithu”, which was announced on Raj’s 37th birthday.

The Hyderabadi batswoman is a role model and legend in women’s cricket, having inspired a generation of girls to take up the sport which was not seen commercially viable for women. She broke the stereotypes all over the country about girls and cricket ever since making her debut for India in 1999 at a very young age. She has led the team to two World Cup finals and is the highest run-getter for India in both ODIs and T20Is.

‘I’d like to see how you play… cover drive!’ Mithali to Taapsee

Mithali Raj has called time on her T20I career but aspires to see India winning the World Cup and fulfil dreams of many cricket fans in the country. Taapsee Pannu has experience of playing real-life characters as mentioned before and she had earlier mentioned, “I’d say that I’d love to be part of the Mithali film, but it’s too early right now to say it’s happening. I’m in talks about it. I’m doing another sports film, which will be announced soon.” Shabaash Mithu is backed by Viacom18 Studios and directed by Rahul Dholakia, who helmed Raees.

However, Taapsee Pannu has admitted that playing a cricketer on the screen is a very difficult job given the technicalities that go into emulating an accomplished sportsperson. She recently said that she is nervous as she prepares to get ready to become Mithali on the silver screen.

“I will start preparing for the film at the start of next year because we are going to start shooting the film from the middle of 2020. I watch cricket.. but I never played the game. Mithali.. already told me that ‘I’d like to see how you play.. cover drive!’ so, I dream of cover drives now. ,” Taapsee was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times

Cricketers’ biopics have done well on the silver screen with Sushant Rajput portraying India’s two-time World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni and Emraan Hashmi playing former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin. Also in works is the story of India’s 1983 World cup winning campaign title ‘83’, with Ranveer Singh playing the winning skipper Kapil Dev and Deepika Padukone playing his wife, Roma.

Watch – Dale Steyn’s cheeky run-out attempt