Biopic on Kolkata club’s triumph over East Yorkshire Regiment.
By Prabhav Hiremath
MUMBAI: Bollywood films on sports seldom attract audiences, unless there is a big star involved, like Aaamir Khan in ‘Lagaan’ (2001), Shah Rukh Khan in ‘Chak De India’ (2007) or Farhan Akhtar in ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ (2013). Even big name like John Abraham, a football fan, failed with his 2007 film ‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal,’ a football based film shot in the UK.
Abraham has, however, no choice but to appear in yet another film on football, as his friend and director Shoojit Sircar – of ‘Vicky Donor’ and ‘Madras Café’ fame – ‘gifted’ him a film script on his wedding.
The film is about an Indian football club defeating an established European football team in 1911. Mohun Bagan Athletic Club, an 1889-founded Indian football club based in Kolkata, pulled off a historic win against East Yorkshire Regiment, making history then by becoming the first Indian team to lift the IFA Shield trophy on July 29th, 1911. Real life trivia from that game include Indian players sporting folded dhotis against their counterparts outfitted in proper football attire and gear.
Sircar said that he had thought of making a film on this real-life sporting event long back. The director, who happens to be avid football lover himself, is all set to roll the camera early next year on the project. Currently, the filmmaker is busy filming a documentary on Amitabh Bachchan.
The director, who has several TV commercials too to his credit, said in interviews that the script of this film on the football match was a wedding gift to Abraham, who recently got married to his girlfriend of three years, Priya Runchal, an investment banker.
Sircar plans to bring on some well-known national and international football players on board for the film, to be shot in Kolkata. The film will be produced by Abraham and Ronnie Lahiri.
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