Important to capture the soul of the character: Sudheer Babu on Pullela Gopichand biopic

Gopichand, a former All England Champion, is currently the national badminton coach and has played a key role in establishing PV Sindhu's career. After his retirement from active sport, he founded the Gopichand Badminton Academy in 2008 in Hyderabad.

The movie, a bilingual biopic in Hindi and Telugu, will narrate the shuttler's journey on and off the court.

Babu, who has been a professional badminton player, said his preparation for the role involves brushing up his skills.

"I know the game so I have an edge. It is not required to train too much about badminton as I already know some skills, I will have to just sharpen them a little bit," Babu told PTI in an interview.

"Some of the biopics fail because actors only try to pick up their body language, the way they sit, walk and talk, what they miss is the soul. So if you want to catch the soul of the person, you have to be with them, you have to get to know them and their life for a good 20-25 years," he added.

The 40-year-old actor, best known for his performances in Telugu horror comedy "Prema Katha Chitram" and Hindi action film "Baaghi" alongside Tiger Shroff, said the time he spent playing alongside Gopichand for a few years will help him in essaying the role.

"I have travelled with him for five to eight years and played with him as a practice partner. However, there is more to him than that. So maybe I will have to interact with people who have travelled with him and try to create how he would have been or how he would have reacted and then put it on the screen," he added.

The challenge, Babu said, would be to shoot the badminton sequences while bringing out the inner struggle of the character.

"Badminton looks easy on TV. The challenge would be to shoot badminton and make it feel like real. Besides, there is a story happening while playing badminton, the struggle within him, where you can't talk, but only express," he said.

Shedding light on the status of the film, the actor said the script is ready and the team is likely to begin shooting in December, with an aim to release it before Tokyo Olympics 2021.

Fox Star Studios is presenting the film in collaboration with Abundantia Entertainment.

Babu said he wants Gopichand's inspirational story to reach every corner of India, and even if the movie is able to motivate a few people to join the sport, his purpose will be served.

The actor's latest film is director Mohana Krishna Indraganti's action-thriller "V", which is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Also starring Nani, Nivetha Thomas and Aditi Rao Hydari, Babu plays DCP Aditya to Nani's Yendluri Vishnu, the killer in the movie.

"It is very rare to find a script where so much importance is given to the story in an action film. There are two strong characters who will go to any extent to achieve what they believe in. There is a cop and a killer, there is a cat and mouse game," he added.