West Indies swashbuckling all-rounder Andre Russell may be missing from the IPL, but he is planning a surprise for fans.
The 28-year-old is turning singer like fellow teammate Dwayne Bravo, whose song, Champion, became Windies' World Cup anthem. He's also taking music lessons from Bravo.
Russell has signed a deal with LA-based Venus Entertainment Group, which had launched the international careers of Bravo and Hindi musician Arko, for a Hinglish club song.
Russell says, "Cricket has always been my first love, but I am fond of singing and dancing too. We Jamaicans love music; it runs in our blood."
He will soon shoot the video of the single, produced by LA's GeminiMusiq that was associated with Justin Bieber's album, Sorry. "I even recorded the song at the same studio as Bieber. I will visit India later this month to see if I can rope in a Hindi actress for the video.
He said, I'd love to feature Priyanka Chopra or Deepika Padukone in the single.
Since I am not playing cricket now, I thought it'd make sense to utilize my time constructively. That's how I came up with the idea to put together a single."
Banned for a year for a doping violation in January, Russell met B-Town sex siren Mallika Sherawat in New York recently and got talking.
According to an insider, "As she learnt about his aspiration to join Bollywood, she advised him to start taking lessons in Hindi.
The two spent a few hours together. It wouldn't be surprising if they collaborate on a Hindi movie.
Seven other cricketers who recently turned singers these are, Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina, Vinod Kambli, S Sreesanth, Dwayne Bravo.