The interrogative title of Shreyas Talpade’s latest film Kaun Pravin Tambe? is enough to pique anyone's interest, whether a cricket fan or not. It had the same effect on Talpade who strongly believed that the story of Tambe, known to be the oldest debutant at IPL, had to be told when he read the script. The Jayprad Desai directed sports biopic drama on the Mumbai-born Tambe dropped early this month on Disney+Hotstar and has been receiving good reviews since then. We caught up with Talpade about being inspired by Tambe's character and more.
What was it about Kaun Pravin Tambe? that got you onboard a biopic?
When I read the script I strongly felt that the story of this man deserved an audience and screen space; this story had to be told. It’s about never giving up and believing in yourself and your dream. It’s about a man who kept fighting all these years and stayed focused. When I saw him play for the first time I was like who is this man who is debuting at 41 and performing like a 20-year-old, what is his back story, where was he all this while? And when I got to know his back story I felt extremely inspired.
It is an extremely simple and grounded film. The director told me that we are not going to go for prosthetics and all that. It was all about getting his spirits right on the screen. This is how a biopic should be made.
With films being made on our more prominent cricketers like Kapil Dev and Dhoni do you think Pravin Tambe's story will get lost?
Not at all. With the kind of responses that we are getting it's phenomenal, to say the least. A good product has nothing to worry about and Kaun Pravin Tambe? is one such project.
How is the experience in this film is different from Iqbal?
It is in a way similar and different as well from Iqbal. The primary difference is that while Iqbal was a fictional story this is a real-life story. Further, the responsibility with this one was more than Iqbal because I am playing a real-life character here. In the end, it is important how that person feels after watching the film. All the while when we were making the film it was constantly in the back of my mind that I hope Pravin will like it.