Kirti Azad appears in trailer of film that sees him fighting for Bihar’s cricket glory

Former India cricketer Kirti Azad is a man who has seen quite a bumpy ride during his stint as the politician. During his days in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Kirti had a spat with late Union minister Arun Jaitley. He also had his share of conflict with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). But the former all-round cricketer never shied away from his fight. Also a former MP, Kirti joined the Congress earlier this year but lost in the general elections.

Son of former Bihar chief minister Bhagwat Jha Azad, Kirti found himself in the political wilderness after his break-up with the BJP. A former parliamentarian from Darbhanga, his hometown, the 60-year-old contested from Dhanbad this year but lost by nearly five lakh votes.

Kirti’s Mission ‘Kirket’

Now, the man who has played seven Tests and 25 ODIs for India and was a member of the World Cup-winning team of 1983, is trying his luck with the silver screen. Recently, trailer of a film ‘Kirket’ was released in which Kirti was shown as a crusader who is hell-bent to make Bihar a prominent centre of cricket in India. The Bihar state cricket board had in the past a clash with the BCCI over spot-fixing in the Indian Premier League.

The trailer of the film suggested that it is a typical low-budget Bollywood-style masala film. In it, Kirti is shown as the protagonist who picks up arms for the sake of the state’s cricketers and builds a team that can take on the best.

There are evil forces that try to undo Kirti’s plans but he eventually defeats all. There is, however, no song item in the trailer showing Kirti shaking a leg or two. There are semblances of Shah Rukh Khan-starred Chak De! And like the protagonist in that hockey-centric film, Kirti is seen here galvanising a group of talented but unwilling cricketers to bring the glory of Bihar back.

The trailer also showed former India cricketers Manoj Prabhakar, Maninder Singh and Atul Wasan who were also Kirti’s team-mates in Delhi – the team the Bihar cricketer had represented in first-class cricket.