Howzzat?: Brett Lee ballin’ in Bollywood

Aussie cricket great on foraying into film with Australian rom-com ‘unIndian’.

SYDNEY: Former Australia fast bowler Brett Lee’s debut movie as an actor, a Bollywood-themed romantic comedy unIndian, has held its first premiere in his country. The film has been produced by the Australia India Film Fund and casts Lee as a teacher, who introduces migrant students to the basics of language and Australian culture.

The movie was launched on Wednesday in Lee’s home city, where the cricketer-turned-actor reflected on his career change. The film will be released across Australia on October 15. “The part I thought would be easy and the part I thought would be hard were completely reversed,” the 38-year-old was quoted as saying.



“I thought the hardest part before I started filming was to do the dialogue. There are about 119 scenes, which is pages and pages of dialogue,” he added. “To try and memorise that, I thought I had absolutely no chance of doing that. I thought the acting part would be easier. But when I looked back after completing the movie, the dialogue came [to me] easier.”

Lee’s love-interest in the $4.5-million movie is Indian actor Tannishtha Chatterjee. The former fast bowler, well known for his love of Indian culture, said it all began more than 20 years ago on his first tour to India. “Well, it goes back to 1994 when I first went to India. I was 17, got sick, hated bowling on the wickets, but I got home after two months and thought I really loved that trip. There was something about India that struck this beautiful chord within me,” he said.

He shared that over the years, his love grew for Indian culture and people and that he got a couple of Bollywood offers but wasn’t ready for them as he was still playing cricket. “Then, this Australian movie came across the desk. I had a look at it and loved the script, loved what it stood for and thought this would be a good chance to do my first movie. So why not?” 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2015.

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