Sachin Tendulkar gets Narendra Modi, Aamir’s wishes for Sachin: A Billion Dreams

Cricket and Bollywood are staples of the Indian public. Friendships across the two industries are common and two people at the top of their respective professions — Sachin Tendulkar and Aamir Khan — found common ground to extend that friendship.

Aamir Khan was joined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in wishing Sachin Tendulkar for his biopic’s success. Tendulkar is set to release one of the most awaited films of the year — Sachin: A Billion Dreams — a biopic on his life and career on May 26.

The film has been several years in the making. It features fellow cricket stars Virender Sehwag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and has music compositions by two-time Oscar award winner AR Rahman.

Read | Sachin Tendulkar launches trailer of his biopic - Sachin: A Billion Dreams

But a little known fact Sachin recently revealed in an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama is that Aamir Khan also helped during the production phase.

Asked if he would invite Aamir and other Bollywood stars for a screening of the film, Sachin said: “Yes I will. In fact Aamir has also had his inputs and he has helped me.”

He went on to say that the actor would probably be one of the first people in the country to see the film, especially since the cricketer had enjoyed the same privilege previously.

Read | Sachin Tendulkar’s ‘Sachin: A Billion Dreams’ to hit the theatres on May 26

“Aamir is a good friend. When it comes to his movies, I also get to see them before everyone. So is the case with my movie,” Sachin added.

It was recently revealed that the film would be tax free in Kerala and Chhattisgarh after the respective state governments passed ordinances.

The film will be released on May 26 in English-Hindi while there will also be releases in Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.

Read | Sachin Tendulkar to reveal his romantic side in biopic, Sachin: A Billion Dreams

Dedicated to dad, brother

When asked about the process of making the film, Sachin revealed that he got quite emotional while recounting several moments of his career.

“I think to be able to re-live all those moments, 24 years that I have been part of Indian team has really been special. I was going through each and every series; every match, figuring the highest point of my career and the lowest point of my career and to re-live that was really special,” he said.

He added that his father passing away during the 1999 tour of England was one of the most difficult moments of his career.

Several media houses have reported that Sachin plans to dedicate the film to his father Ramesh and brother Ajit, both of whom were integral to his successful career.

Sachin also said that there was a lot of focus on keeping the film realistic.

“[In the film] you see glamour; someone has so many ads, income and those kinds of things. But the journey doesn’t start [there]. The journey had challenges.

“I travelled by buses and trains. I also got pushed around. There were number of occasions where I couldn’t get off the bus because it was too crowded. Sometimes the bus didn’t stop at the bus stop. So those kinds of things did happen. We are trying to show something which is 100 percent real. There is nothing made up and hopefully children will get inspired,” he said.