B’wood beats T’wood in Sachin’s big match

Nag is busy with ‘Manam’ and Venky’s new release falls on the same day

I have been getting repeated calls from Mumbai to attend the match. However, I’m in a fix as my film ‘Masala’ is releasing on Thursday. I would be able to take a call soon since the test match spans for five days - Venkatesh

With a huge Bollywood contingent comprising Aamir Khan, Karisma Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, Shahid Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Sushanth Singh Rajput, Ranveer Singh, and Varun Dhawan having booked their tickets already to see Little Master Sachin Tendulkar walk into the test arena for one final time at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, the representation of Tollywood stars would be relatively less compared to their B-town counterparts.

While the suave stars such as Mahesh Babu, NTR, Ram Charan, Prabhas and Allu Arjun are not that much into cricket, senior actors like Bala Krishna, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh are known to have played the game besides being cricket buffs.

Venkatesh who has been following the game since late 90’s is keen to catch the world cricket's most celebrated No 4 batsman bidding farewell to the game, but his release ‘Masala’ may play spoilsport. “I have been getting repeated calls from Mumbai to attend the match. However, I’m in a fix as my ‘Masala’ is releasing on Thursday. I would be able to take a call soon since the test match spans for five days,” says Venky.

The actor, who has taken the mantle of promoting ‘Masala’ on his own since his co-star Ram has left for a holiday, we hear, might board a flight to Mumbai after assessing his films performance with his brother Suresh Babu.

Superstar Nagarjuna, who initially was keen to witness the match, may not be present at the stadium. His manager says, “He will be shooting for his project ‘Manam’ for the next five days in Hyderabad. ANR’s portions, which were to be shot earlier, had to be pushed forward since he underwent a surgery recently. Now that he’s back on to the sets, Nag is keen on completing the combination portions. The actor is also checking on his dad’s health regularly.”

Nag’s good friend/business partner Chamundeswaranath, who is pretty close to Sachin, is expected to represent the actor at the venue, a source points out.

One notable absentee at the venue would be Sachin’s dearest friend Shah Rukh Khan. The superstar, who was banned from entering Wankhede for five years, last year, has expressed his regret recently. “There are some places in the world they don't want me to go to”, he was quoted as saying.