After Chak De India, which glamorized Indian women hockey, Indian cine goers are in a treat for another hockey feat in the much awaited ‘Udta Punjab’ (Rising Punjab) film, which will hit big screens shortly.
Actress Alia Bhatt, younger daughter of famous film director and producer Mahesh Bhatt, will be presented as a hockey girl in the film which was in news for censorship issue recently.
Film star Alia Bhatt will be seen as a migrant Bihari girls playing hockey player in the director Abhishek Chaubey’s ‘Udta Punjab’.
Alia with a hockey stick is seen in the promos and teasers, where as an innocent personified player, she stops a truck and takes a free lift, reminding routine rural scene of contemporary Punjab.
It is reported in the cine media that Alia trained in hockey for a month and a half in Mumbai, before she began shooting for the film in Punjab.
“I was given a coach and we trained at a place in Bandra. I would reach at around 6 am every morning,” she was quoted as saying.
“The idea was to get the postures right, learn to hold the stick right and to control the ball.”
“Hockey is a very difficult sport but I had to push myself despite injuries,” she said at the launch of the song ‘Ikk Kudi’ from Udta Punjab.
“I worked hard because I wanted to be comfortable with the hockey stick, and project the certain ease in the body language of hockey players. I also wanted to bring a degree of strength and force to my character”.
“It was a hectic and physically demanding kind of a film. One would need years of practice to be able to pull off the role of a hockey player convincingly,” Alia told reporters, adding “I got a lot of help from the director, the coach and the girls.”
Udta Punjab revolves around drug-related problems in Punjab. The film stars Shahid Kapoor essaying the character of a high-on-drugs, long-haired rockstar Tommy Singh. Kareena Kapoor Khan plays a doctor who is determined to fight the illegal transportation of drugs, while Diljeet Dosanjh portrays a police officer. The film is scheduled to release day after tomorrow (June 17).