After being cleared of spot-fixing charges, Sreesanth has taken to a whole new ball game by replacing the white sunscreen used liberally while on the cricketing field for the greasepaint favoured by actors. He is now an actor who is busy shooting for the Bollywood film Cabaret produced by Pooja Bhatt and is also a part of a big budget trilingual movie, which was announced some months back. Though there were rumours of him being cast in a Malayalam movie, they remained just that. Sreesanth takes some time off from the shoot of Cabaret to speak exclusively with DC about signing his debut bilingual project in Malayalam and Telugu.
The title Team 5 is misleading and has nothing to do with cricket. Sreesanth explains more, “I play a biker in the film.
Producer Raj Zachariah approached me with the script and the character I play is novel; there are going to be some bike stunts in the film. The film is a big budget one and it will be shot in Hollywood style, looking at the sport and also capturing adventurous moments along with a romance track happening. The message would be that adventure is not a crime but a sport!”
Sreesanth mentions that like most youngsters, he too was a bike buff, but always played it safe. He states, “If you are a good rider, everything is safe. I am learning some bike stunts and I would love to do the stunts myself without using a body double. But the challenge for me is to do the stunts myself and I am up to it.” Incidentally, Sreesanth will also start shooting for his trilingual project soon and is suddenly turning out to be a busy actor.
What does wife Bhuvneshwari think of his new career? He laughs and quips, “She said that I will be a good actor otherwise I would never have been able to woo her. Jokes apart, she is a huge encouragement and though she is my biggest critic, she is also my biggest support!” Sreesanth mentions that his dad has been a part of plays and films, his brother-in-law is a singer, his brother has acted in movies and his elder sister was also an actress. He adds, “I guess the acting genes run in the family but I went after cricket and now I am back to the acting arena. Mahesh Bhatt sir appreciated my work in Cabaret and that is huge.
With life taking so many new and exciting turns, does he miss being a cricketer? He candidly replies, “Yes, I am missing cricket. All I can say is that I am fit, I am training and whenever I am not shooting or in the gym, I am in the cricket field. If the BCCI allows me, I am just hoping that sooner or later I will get to play first class and club cricket. I am optimistic about returning to the Indian team!”
