The much-celebrated life of cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar's famous coach Ramakant Achrekar will soon be captured on celluloid.
A Marathi movie called 'Achrekar Sir', based on a book by Achrekar's student and adopted son, former First-Class player-turned coach Naresh Churi, on the famed coach will be made by well-known Marathi film director Dr Sheshrao Patil. An announcement regarding this was made on December 3, Achrekar's birth anniversary, in Pune, at an event called 'Sankalp Siddhi,' where the establishment of 'Ramakant Achrekar Sir Krida Nyas' was announced. At the function, Churi's book on Achrekar was released too. The event ended with the teaser of the film.
"While writing the book, I told Dr Sheshrao Patil about the story in Achrekar sir's life. He then insisted about making a film on sir, which he felt would be riveting. The film and book on Achrekar are part of an initiative by a trust formed by us called 'Dronacharya Ramakakar Achrekar trust.' This trust will do some cricketing activities too," Churi told TOI. "The movie will go on the floor in April. It should be over in two months," he added. The film will be produced by the production company 'Morpis Entertainment LLP'.
"As someone who owes a lot to him in life, I can say that it's a dream come true. People should know what a great coach he was. People only know that he coached Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli, but produced 15 international cricketers, including two women, and countless First-Class cricketers. Few know that he coached pacer Panduran Salgaokar, Ramnath Parkar, former India 'keeper-bat Chandrakant Pandit, Pravin Amre and Lalchand Rajput. His list of 'students' is massive. At one point, seven or eight players in Mumbai's Ranji Trophy winning side would be from his stable, and many others, like me, played for Railways, Rajasthan or other domestic teams," Churi said.
"People must know what all he has done for his wards, how much he has struggled for them. If you see the Shivaji Park, especially in the present condition, it wouldn't have been easy for him to produce one Test cricketer after another for him from there. People must know more about him," said the 59-year-old.
An employee of State Bank of India, Achrekar, who played one First-Class game, was a resident of Dadar. "Achrekar sir's fees was nominal-Rs 7 every month, which he increased to Rs 10 to Rs 21 per month later. In 90% of the cases, it was waived off for poor boys and girls," Chruri recalled.
Achrekar passed away on January 2, 2019, at the age of 86.
Churi said another facet of Achrekar's coaching was his contribution to the development of the women's game in Mumbai, which was virtually non-existent in the early 70s. "In 1972, when it was difficult for women to play professional cricket in the city, Achrekar sir had a women's team. Nowadays, you can see more women cricketers playing at the Shivaji Park than male cricketers! I would say that the founder of women's cricket in Mumbai, which is now so big, is Achrekar sir. All his three daughters played cricket, with two of them going on to represent Mumbai. One of his daughters is currently a Mumbai selector. Two of his wards-Surekha Bhandare and Arundhati Ghosh-where wonderful cricketers, who later took forward his coaching legacy," Churi said.
"Again, few know about his contribution to women's cricket," he concluded.
