Scoop: Rugby time for Abhay Deol, will be seen in a sports-based film next

Before Shabbir Boxwala kick-starts the biopic on Vikram Batra in collaboration with Dharma Productions, he is bankrolling another project, starring Abhay Deol, with Los Angeles-based producer Prashant Shah. Says a source, “It’s a sports-based film called Jungle Cry. Abhay plays the role of a real-life coach Rudraksha Jena, who is based in Bhubaneshwar. He had led an under-14 team to victory at the International School Rugby Tournament in London in 2007. The film was initially offered to Abhishek Bachchan, but talks with him didn’t materialise. Later, Abhay was roped in.” The actor has been busy learning the game while prepping for the movie. The source adds, “The team will shoot the inspirational human drama in Odisha. It is expected to go on floors within a month.” Interestingly, Shabbir has already worked with the other Deol brothers — Sunny (Vishwatma, 1992) and Bobby (Gupt, 1997). We called up Prashant, who told us, “We will announce the film in two weeks. We can’t talk about it right now.”