Bets, bucks and beauties!

Our sources say that the film will tell Sreesanth’s story and will also expose the nexus between Indian cricketers and the glamour world. Interestingly, the ongoing romance between Virat Kohli and actress Anushka Sharma will also be a peg to show the link between cricketers and actresses.

“I am still in talks with the cricketer. If everything falls into place, I want to start shooting from January,” says Madhura Sridhar.

The film will be released in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. Sources add that while Sreesanth is interested in the film, he is asking for a huge amount and also the film’s Malayalam distribution rights. Sridhar has, apparently, agreed to part with the Malayalam rights but they are still negotiating the remuneration.

The script is full of masala and shows how cricketers enjoy celebrity status and also how they are trapped by betting agents. “There are some interesting facts in the script. About a cricketer partying the whole night and not being able to perform at the nets the next day resulting in his being dropped from the team. There are many such inside stories of the dressing room,” says the source.

Asked about the script, Sridhar says, “I can’t reveal my film’s subject, but you will see some real incidents that happened in Indian cricket.”

Viren Thambidorai and Vandana Agarwal of Josh Media, who handle Sreesanth’s Tollywood career and his other entertainment endeavours, have, however, denied the reports. Vandana says, “Sreesanth is very clear that he doesn’t want to have anything to do with the betting scandal in his movie career. The whole idea is for him to have a fresh start on screen. He has not signed the movie with Madhura Sreedhar yet, the project is still in discussions. And all we know is that it’s a love story, so the filmmaker probably thought he would get some mileage in the media by using Virat and Anushka’s names.”