Sachin Tendulkar still remembers Raj Singh Dungarpur’s polite, but a firm business-like one liner before the start of the 1989 Mumbai-Delhi Ranji Trophy semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium. Some days shy of turning 15, Tendulkar’s prolific batting form put him in the forefront of a probably selection for the tour of the West Indies.
Mumbai’s cricketing circles were very upbeat, but the then Chairman of the National selection committee, Dungarpur, walked up to the Mumbai nets and told Tendulkar: “After the semi-final, you can concentrate on your exams,’’ and the teenager’s hopes of travelling to the West Indies was dashed.
Six months later though, Tendulkar was picked for the tour to Pakistan and Rajsingh said then: “Tendulkar’s selection went like a shot.’’
“Rajsingh has encouraged me a lot; in fact and he found a sponsor for my first tour to England with Kailash Gattani’s Star Cricket team,’’ said Tendulkar three days before the release of his drama documentary Sachin: A Billion Dreams on May 26.
Tendulkar has seen his twenty times; with his family members, armed forces and people involved in the making of the film. He will see it again on Wednesday with his coach and mentor Ramakant Achrekar and the Indian team bound for the ICC Champions Trophy. Made in original version in three languages, Hindi, Marathi and England and dubbed in Tamil and Telugu, the film will be released on Friday, May 26.
When asked who among the Tendulkar family was more curious to see the film, he replied: "Probably me. Yes, they have seen it and liked it.’’
On Tuesday, he arranged a 35 minute preview of the film for the sports media at the Lightbox Preview Theatre at Santa Cruz and Tendulkar, fielding a question on how he feels three days before the world-wide release, said: "We have jumped in to the pool and have to swim. We have tried our best. It’s exactly like preparing for a match. We felt that we should do it from our heart, try and be as genuine and real as possible. The film is about my real journey. My whole life has been in front of the world. We have included a few things that are really private and personal. To realise this journey has been special for me. In real cricketing life I thought about the next match; here I have talked about the past.’’
James Erskine who has directed the movie said: "We can make ten films out of Tendulkar. But what we have tried is to make a film and we have done that; you can make out from the clips that we have used a whole range of media; dramatisation, animation, home movies and actual footage. Nobody can create a genius like that. It’s unique and so we have blended all those things together. When I came on board, I was clear that it must have a story to connect the central character and hero. I asked him what was his motivation to become a cricketer when he was a kid and he said it was the 1983 World Cup final. To me that was the spark for the story. It takes him through a range of emotions. We wanted to keep the narrative compelling and comprehensive as we could.’’
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