As film scripts go, the tale of a group of virtual unknowns winning the biggest prize in cricket isn’t one you’d normally associate with Scotland.
Yet Bollywood’s most glamorous star, Deepika Padukone, is heading to Glasgow and Edinburgh after it was deemed the perfect place to shoot a film about India’s remarkable victory in the 1983 World Cup.
Producers are looking for 400 extras of Asian background for key roles with some of the industry’s biggest idols, including Deepika’s husband Ranveer Singh.
Singh plays captain Kapil Dev in the biopic, which follows a bunch of relative nobodies in the eyes of the cricketing world who became national heroes.
Bowling and batting all-rounder Dev led from the front as his side swept through to the semi-final, where they beat hosts England, before defeating the might of tournament favourites the West Indies to win the title at Lord’s in London.
The win, also inspired by legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar, established India as a power in world cricket and today the country is the home of the IPL, a cash-rich cricket league that attracts the biggest stars from across the globe.
The Glasgow-based Real People agency has sent out an SOS for extras to feature in the film alongside the Bollywood stars.
Casting assistant Alishah Ahmed said: “We’ll need a lot of people to actually sit in the cricket ground while the game is being played, essentially being the crowd or audience at the match and in other scenes extras will be needed in the
airport to be members of the public.”
Filming will begin in June for about 20 days. Stars Ranveer and Deepika will also play husband and wife on screen.
The multi-billion-pound Bollywood industry is a growing market, with some films costing in excess of £65million.
Alishah said: “Word has spread that Glasgow and Edinburgh are really nice places to film and, of course, actually cheaper for them to come all the way from India with all the cast and crew than it is for them to film over there, which is crazy.
“But we also have a lot of big locations and with Scotland being so green and scenic, with all the parks and the airports being so close geographically to the cities, it makes perfect sense.
“Such a big production provides people here with jobs. We’re looking for 400 people, so that’s 400 jobs from this production alone.
“Everyone will get a chance to see how big Bollywood is and with all the singing and dancing, if you get to be a part of it, it’ll be exciting.”
Extras must be aged 16 to 65 and live and have the right to work in the UK.
The film is due to be released next year.
A Creative Scotland spokesman said: “Scotland continues to be a popular destination for film and TV productions and we continue to welcome international productions choosing to base themselves here.”
