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Xtra Time Web Desk: Versatile Bollywood actor Aamir Khan on Sunday said it would be an absolute pleasure for him to play the role of five times world chess champion Viswanthan Anand in his biopic. Aamir was among one of the celebrities who took on legendary grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand in a game of chess to raise funds for COVID-19 charity on Sunday, June 13.

“It would be not only an honour to play Vishy but a pleasure to play his role in his biopic.”

He added, “It would be highly exciting to get into his mind. When I am playing a character, I try to understand the person’s mind. And Vishy (Viswanathan Anand) being a real person, I would obviously spend a lot of time with him, to understand his mind and how his mind works. I would understand from his wife and his family.”

Aamir has earlier played the role of former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat in the film Dangal. He was widely appreciated for his role.

“Hopefully I might surprise Vishy when I am playing him on big screen if and when that happens. I would look forward to it,” said Aamir during the virtual interaction.  

Anand pulled his (Aamir) legs by saying hopefully he won’t put him in a situation where he have to gain weight for playing his role on-screen.

“And I promise I won’t put you in a situation where you have to gain weight for your role,” said Viswanathan Anand.

Aamir Khan also revealed how he learnt the game of chess from his grandmother when he was a five year old kid. “My grandmother taught this game when I was five or six years old and since then I have been enjoying this game,” said Aamir Khan during a virtual interaction involving Bollywood singer Arijit Singh and Vishwanathan Anand.

On being asked if he had got any formal training after that, Amir said, “I never got any training. I just played with my grandmom, my uncle, kids and all. I only tournament I played in my life was when I was in NM College and we had a junior college chess tournament. It was kind of a internal chess tournament involving around 2000 kids or whatever. So I won that in the 11th and the 12^th.”

The celebrity match was live-streamed on Chess.com. Among the other noted celebrities who took part in a series of games include South Indian star Kiccha Sudeep, Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh, singer Arijit Singh and singer-songwriter Ananya Birla.

Organised by Chess.com in association with Akshaya Patra Foundation, the fundraiser called ‘Checkmate COVID Celebrity Edition’ was conducted to help members of the chess community who have been affected by the pandemic.

Here is the full video of the virtual interaction: