Sonu Sood wishes his mother were alive to see him in Samrat Prithviraj, recalls her stories about poet Chand Bardai

Sonu Sood will be playing Chand Bardai in his next film Samrat Prithviraj. The actor said he had heard a lot of stories about the 12th-century poet from his late mother, Professor Saroj Sood. Sonu also said that he wished his mother was alive to see him play Chand Bardai, and tell him if the portrayal was accurate. Also Read| Akshay Kumar's Prithviraj is now Samrat Prithviraj after Karni Sena objects to title, Yash Raj Films issues statement

Samrat Prithviraj, directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi, stars Akshay Kumar as the 12th-century ruler Prithviraj and Sonu as his loyal friend Chand Bardai. It is based on Prithviraj Raso, a Braj Bhasha epic poem about the life of Prithviraj Chauhan by Chand Bardai.

Talking about the role, Sonu told PTI, “When a script like ‘Prithviraj’ came to me, it excited me instantly as I have heard a lot of stories of Chand Bardai from my mother. I was excited to bring those stories to the screen but I also felt a sense of responsibility. We have left no stone unturned to do justice to this role."

He added, “When we used to listen to stories of Chand Bardai, we would feel very inspired. I never thought I would get the opportunity to play Chand Bardai in a film. I wish my mother was alive to see this as she would have been able to see whether I did it correctly or not."

Sonu also revealed that a lot of effort went behind making him look like Chand Bardai, and it would take three-four hours to set up prosthetics and do make-up to transform Sonu into the bald avatar. He also said that it was tough to do action or a horse-riding sequences, while retaining the look.

Samrat Prithviraj is scheduled for release on June 3 in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu languages. It also stars Manushi Chillar, Sanjay Dutt, Manav Vij, Ashutosh Rana, and Sakshi Tanwar.

(Inputs from PTI)