Chandan Arora's STRIKER may not be your typical Bollywood masala fare, but it certainly has what it takes to appeal to the Hindi film audience, and this confidence emanated from none other than the lead actor, Siddharth, while talking to India's leading trade expert.

While replying to a query as to why he chose Chandan Arora as the director of his launch as a solo hero in Bollywood, Siddharth replied that he was very happy and lucky to have Chandan as his director, and felt that working with the director of MAIN MADHURI DIXIT BANNA CHAHTI HOON and MAIN MERI PATNI AUR WOH has been an organic experience for him. Siddharth went on to term STRIKER as a classic, but humbly added that the fact that he has termed his own film a classic may sound arrogant, but that is because he had seen the film and hence the confidence!. He also made a proclamation (which he says might sound pompous!) saying that when his career will be analyzed in the future, STRIKER will be counted as the film which made him!

Well, that's called confidence, and after an incredible success rate of nine out of ten solo hits down south, its time for Siddharth to strike and make it a tenth with STRIKER, which is all set to release this Friday.

Glamsham

Cinemax held the premiere of Chandan Arora's upcoming film Striker, on Wednesday night. Siddharth, the film's lead actor, interacted with media and the fans, and there were quite a few others who had graced the red carpet.

Priyamani, Ravi Teja, Sunil, Nikhil and Suresh Babu were among the celebrities spotted at the glitzy do.

The movie is set in a Bombay slum Malwani in the mid '80s, where a young carom aficionado gets drawn into the sleazy underworld that causes much misery to his family as well. Striker is based on a real life story.

Apart from Siddharth, Striker also stars Aditya Pancholi, Padma Priya, Seema Biswas, Anupam Kher, Ankur Vikal, Vidya Malvade and Anoop Soni. [FullHyderabad]

Candids from the event can now be found in the gallery

Fortunately for us, Siddharth was not completely alien to playing carrom. He's played carrom while growing up with his family and friends like most of us. Whenever we were shooting the carrom sequences, we were shooting with actual carrom players and it was here that he had to make sure that he was on par with them in terms of getting the whole body language and mannerisms right. He worked really hard with a carrom coach that he had and used to keep practicing in between shots. The results are there for all to see.

Siddharth

Siddharth, one of the boys in Shankar’s ‘Boys’, aims at making it big in Bollywood with ‘Striker’, which is his first solo debut in Hindi cinema. The film follows the life of a carom player and the actor says he would occupy a position in the top slot after the release of the movie.

“Though Bollywood is not new to me and I had acted in ‘Rang De Basanti’, ‘Striker’ is so important since it is my first venture as the protagonist. I have no doubt that the film would become a super hit,” he says.

“I may sound over-confident. But the truth is that the movie has been shaped up well and would sure strike a chord among the audiences. The film, in its own way, is an ode to carom players,” he adds.

“I needed the right film to make a debut without being babied by Aamir,” the actor says and adds: “This movie is set entirely in Malvani and we have shot most of it there. I had a difficult time getting out of the character after the film was over.”

In the meantime, Siddharth, along with his close friends, is searching for a house in Mumbai. “I am hopeful of getting offers from Bollywood once ‘Striker’ hits the screens. So I want to stay in Mumbai.”

A huge star of the Telugu film industry, Siddharth may not be a known name in Bollywood, except for a short but impressive role in RANG DE BASANTI but his chocolate boy good looks in the Idea Walk And Talk AD has made him quite popular with the females. His upcoming film, STRIKER has come after a gap of almost four years. The film revolves around a carom player who comes from a poor family in Malwani area of Mumbai (1980s) and has a passion for carom and goes on to win the junior championship.

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However, lead actor Siddharth categorically denies that STRIKER is a sports film, although the game is very central to the plot. He prefers to call STRIKER a period drama which is inspired by the times when every day young unemployed youth used to go out of slums empty-handed but returned with thousands of rupees, all because of their skills in carom. He goes on to add that there used to be around 3000 carom clubs in the city and the underground carom scene has been breeding hustlers and gamblers for many years.

Looks like the intelligent actor has done his homework and after this insight it gives us all the more reason to check out STRIKER which releases this Friday, that is 5th February!

Glamsham