Sachin Tendulkar acting in a movie

he film on Siddhivinayak in which cricketer Sachin Tendulkar will play a cameo is almost as starry an affair as the list of the temple’s devotees.

“There are so many Bollywood stars who are devotees of Siddhivinayak,” says Rajiv Sanghvi, the producer of the movie titled Vighnaharta Shri Siddhivinayak. “Hence, when we decided to make the movie, we thought of roping in all the people who are devotees of the deity.”

He also clarifies that the master blaster is not acting in the movie. “He and his wife Anjali will be shown performing an aarti in the Siddhivinayak temple,” says Sanghvi.

“Obviously, Sachin was our main focus in the movie as he is a famous cricketer and an inspiration for the country’s young people. Just before Sachin left for the Sri Lanka tour, we proposed the idea of making the movie with him. He readily agreed. We will start shooting from today. The shoot should be over by September 5. We haven’t scheduled the movie for release during Ganesh Chaturthi as we feel that many people won’t have the time to watch the movie then. So we’ve decided to release the movie during Diwali. The lead actors are Parmeet Sethi and Divya Dutta, and we’re also planning to rope in other prominent actors like Sanjay Dutt and Akshay Kumar. Rajiv Johri has written the lyrics and the music has been composed by Anil Mohile. The soundtrack will feature Udit Narayan and Shankar Mahadevan. Ganesh Acharya has agreed to do the choreography of the film. All the actors are doing the project free of cost,” he adds.

To add to the star factor, Amitabh Bachchan is doing the narration, says director Yashwant Ingavale. “It’s certainly not going to be a regular Bollywood film. It’s not a devotional film either, but will convey a strong message to the audience. It’s about the miraculous experience of the devotees,” he says. It was Madhur ‘Page 3’ Bhandarkar who gave him the idea for the film, he adds. “This is my debut Hindi movie. I have assisted Madhur, and when he asked me to make this movie, I couldn’t help being excited,” he says.

Trustees from the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai say that the idea for a film on the deity has been floating about for a while now. “There were many devotees who actually suggested that there should be a movie made on Lord Ganesha,” says Subhash Mayekar, chairman of the Siddhivinayak Temple Trust. “It was then that one of our regular visitors, Rajiv Sanghvi, decided to make a film which would feature Sachin in a cameo. As Sachin is also one of the regular visitors to the temple, he couldn’t say no and readily agreed. We’ve taken permission from the temple authorities and will shoot some part of the movie in the temple premises.”

While Tendulkar wasn’t available for comment, his personal assistant said, “The temple wanted an earlier date for shooting, probably before the Sri Lanka tour. But due to Sachin’s busy schedule, he couldn’t get to shoot earlier. He has agreed to shoot for the film after coming back from the tour.”