By Smriti Daniel, Pix by Lakshman Gunatilleke
What do Indians love more – their Bollywood movies or their cricket? It’s a tough call to make, not least because both things have been known to rouse the subcontinent to the point of mass hysteria. But a new movie, which combines the two in a wildly inspirational tale of a young boy’s rise to the top of the game, seems set to hit the jack pot at the box office. The movie features big Bollywood names like Harman Baweja, Amrita Rao, Anupam Kher and Gulshan Grover; but for many the main attraction will be the cricketers – over 43 from nearly seven countries starring in the film, whose casting, the producers claim, will make this the most authentic Bollywood film about cricket.
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| Line producer Ruby Singh |
Director and producer Ajitpal Mangat |
The climax of the movie, filmed at the Oval grounds in Colombo late last week, pitted Bollywood’s newest heart throb Harman against the Sri Lankan team. Thus, audiences can expect to see Kumar Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitheran, Sanath Jayasuriya, Dilhara Fernando, Farveez Maharoof and Chaminda Vaas on the big screens early next year. “This was more difficult than actually playing cricket,” said pacie Dilhara Fernando of his first Bollywood experience.
With a basic production budget of 10 million US dollars, ‘Victory’ will surely count amongst the most ambitious films that Bollywood has presented in recent memory. Matching the schedules of the various celebrities alone was a mammoth task, say the producers. A tide of international participants followed in the wake of Australian express bowler Brett Lee, who was the first to sign on – after he told director, writer and producer Ajitpal Mangat that this was the “best sports script I’ve read in years!” Counted among the cast are Lee’s team mates Brad Hogg, Mike Hussey, Brad Haddin and Stuart Clark.
But the list doesn’t end there – players from India, England, South Africa, Pakistan, and possibly the West Indies have also committed to being part of the cast, bringing the total of participating teams to seven. “Other than the lead role – which is played by Harman Baweja – the other characters you see on the cricket field are real cricketers,” says Ruby Singh, a line producer for the film. Director Ajitpal decided early on that authenticity was key to his vision of what the film should be. “When I have a panel, Kapil Dev, Navjot Sidhu, Allan Border are on that panel,” he said, adding that instead of shooting the film in only one stadium, he and his team intend to travel the globe, filming in a number of locations along the way. Included in this is footage taken at large sporting events like the India Premier League (IPL).
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| Farveez Maharoof joins Harman on the set. |
The movie follows the life of Vijay Shekhawat (played by Harman) and charts his meteoric rise to fame.
Harman, fresh from his debut in Love Story 2050, trained for six months in preparation. “Luckily I’ve always been a cricket fan, but then I think every Indian is born loving cricket,” he said. With filming having begun last December, he says he cannot remember when he last had a holiday, but that he now knows enough about cricket and cricketers to write a book. Even so, batting against several of the world’s most famous cricketers must be somewhat intimidating. “It helps that they’re all going easy on me,” says the 28-year-old actor.
Ruby promises that the movie will be nothing less than epic. “We Indians are mad about three things – Bollywood, cricket and music – and this movie has them all,” he says. The last is in the capable hands of composer Anu Malik. The soundtrack will include performances by bhangra singer Daler Mehndi and playback singer Sukhwinder Singh.
The matches themselves promise to be spectacular. With the transition from a 20 inch T.V screen to a 35mm theatre screen, audiences can enjoy “every detail,” he says; “you can see their finger movement, their wrist movement, their expression, the details of their aggression and even their thought process.” The movie is also intended to give viewers glimpses of backstage politics and the role that sponsors, the cricket boards, selectors, and managers play in the game.
“Look at me – I’ve lost three inches off my hairline and ten years off my life,” says Ajitpal, for whom this movie marks his debut as a Bollywood director. Having directed over 800 advertisements, Ajitpal says movie-making is both more challenging and infinitely more satisfying creatively. Of course as an ardent cricket fan, meeting the stars of the game has been one of the highlights of his switch in careers.
These are all guys I’ve sort of admired from afar – and then here’s Murali actually taking directions from me.”
The three day shoot for ‘Victory’ in Sri Lanka was organised by Chandran Ratnam’s company Film Location Services. The well known film maker, who served as line producer for ‘Victory’ is convinced that such big budget blockbusters will draw valuable movie tourism to the country – “we have the most beautiful locations for films set in the tropics, we have skilled technicians and competitive prices,” he says.
Having successfully completed their Sri Lankan stint, the Indian film makers are now preparing to go to Pakistan and then to South Africa for the remainder of the shoot. Post-production will be carried out in India and in the U.S.A, where computer generated imagery (CGI) will be used to enhance the movie. A tentative premiere date is January 30, 2009 in Bombay, with a U.K release following shortly after.
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