Ashutosh Gowariker meets club and league cricketers for Aamir Khan’s Lalkaara

Aamir Khan and Ashutosh Gowariker. Pics/mid-day archives, Yogen Shah, Instagram

The buzz around Aamir Khan's ‘Lalkaara' is gaining momentum ahead of the sports drama going on floors in October. According to sources, filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker - who will chronicle the 1952 India-Pakistan Test cricket series, the first after the 1947 Partition - recently conducted an extensive look test and met around 50 cricketers at the Goregaon Sports Club in Mumbai.

Lala Amarnath and Sidhant Gupta

The casting exercise was about finding cricketers who play at the club- and city-level and can be part of the movie, which sees Khan step into the role of celebrated Indian cricketer Lala Amarnath. A source told mid-day, "‘Lalkaara' will feature a mix of cricketers alongside its principal cast. Ashutosh met about 50 cricketers, who play in Mumbai's clubs and various cricket leagues, for a test shoot, including those who regularly practise there. Actors posing as cricketers is not the approach he wants to take. While the actors will train for the crucial match sequences, he wants real sportsmen too."
Sidhant Gupta of ‘Jubilee' (2023) fame is also part of the sports drama.

This project marks Aamir Khan and Ashutosh Gowariker's reunion 25 years after their Oscar-nominated film ‘Lagaan'