Priyadarshan, who has been an admirer of late legendary cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan aka Tiger Pataudi, is collaborating with his son, actor Saif Ali Khan in the upcoming film Haiwaan. In a recent interview, the filmmaker recalled his several attempts to meet Pataudi, and even ending up with a serious eye injury while trying to find him. He also revealed talking about Saif’s father on the sets of their action-thriller, which also stars Akshay Kumar. Saif is reuniting with the actor 18 years after Tashan.

During a chat with , Priyadarshan opened up about his attempts to see Tiger Pataudi, the former Indian cricket team captain. “I remember him playing Ranji Trophy at the university stadium. He was playing for Hyderabad. I wanted to find him and meet him and I ran with all my might and had a big fall,” he remembered.

The director continued, “I got a huge injury and couldn’t meet him. Later, I remember watching him play in Chennai against West Indies. Garfield Sobers’ team was playing at that time. This was the same match where Farokh Engineer scored a hundred. I had just started playing at that time.”

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And on the sets of Haiwaan, there were many conversations surrounding Saif’s late father. “On the sets, I discussed Tiger Pataudi with Saif a lot. I remember all his scores. I took the book that Saif had signed for me. It was on Tiger Pataudi,” he shared.

Saif revealed similarity between Tiger Pataudi, Priyadarshan

During an interaction with last week, Saif Ali Khan pointed out the uncanny similarities between hai father Tiger Pataudi and filmmaker Priyadarshan. “He reminds me of my dad. Both cricketers and both lost an eye but great in their professional space,” he said.

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi lost sight in his right eye after a tragic car accident in London, in 1961. The incident occurred when a glass piece pierced his right eye, causing permanent damaged. After an eye surgery, Pataudi had double vision.

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Similarly, Priyadarshan used to play cricket at the state level in his 20s. He wanted to become a professional cricketer, but a major accident on the pitch brought his sports career to an end. The cricket ball hit his left eye, leading to him making a switch to filmmaking. Priyadarshan has directed 99 films since then, with Haiwaan being the 99th.

Why is Haiwaan Saif Ali Khan’s first film with Priyadarshan?

In the same conversation, Priyadarshan also revealed that Saif was almost locked for one of his earlier films, Garam Masala. “I had gone to meet Saif to narrate the story of Garam Masala,” he said. However, the writing couldn’t be finished on time, hence the actor had to move on to other work commitments.

“He couldn’t do the film. Neeraj (Vora; writer) couldn’t finish writing the entire script. Saif waited for three days but Neeraj couldn’t take the complete script to him. As a result, he gave the dates to somebody else,” he shared. Recalling an anecdote from his first meeting with Saif back then, he said, “The first thing that I told him was, ‘Is your father here? I want to meet him.'”

Besides Saif and Akshay, Haiwaan also features Boman Irani, Sharib Hashmi, Saiyami Kher and Shriya Pilgaonkar in key roles. The film is set to hit the theatres on September 11.