With the state drenched in the soccer rain, and football aficionados betting for their favourite players like Christiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar, Thomas Mueller, Philipp Lahm and the like, it seems Mollywood too is getting ready to play the Beautiful Game in the Malabar soils. Fashion photographer and ad filmmaker Jamesh Kottakkal is helming a film dedicated to soccer with Prithviraj playing the lead. Titled The Beautiful Game, the film will breath, eat and drink football, says the director.
“The film will focus on the football frenzy prevalent in the Malabar region and how Malabar culture is intertwined with the game. Though cricket is the popular game of our country, in Kerala, especially in north Kerala region, football runs in everyone’s blood. The movie will deal with the native football lovers and their life,” says Jamesh.
The 90-minute game that offers edge-of-the-seat moments, nerve-wracking passes, surprise goals and villainous attacks is surely a power-packed game with lots of on field drama taking place.
“Football is a complete package for an action packed movie. The Beautiful Game will narrate the story of players who play in local football clubs in Malabar, their life, their anticipations surrounding their club matches and tourneys, the issues they will find among their team and teamates,” says the photographer-turned-director.
Ask him how the idea for the film happened, he says, “While discussing film projects along with my friend Ajay Kumar, we found that football is one area that has not been explored much. We have had a few films earlier, but in all that soccer formed just the backdrop but not in the angle in which we were planning our film to be. With FIFA World Cup frenzy in the air and the success of recently-released sports movie 1983, we thought this is the perfect time for our film. It has given us confidence that sports movies will be received well among our audience too.”
The script of The Beautiful Game is penned by Ajay Kumar. Prithviraj will be playing the role of a football player from Malabar. “Mammukoya will also be playing a pivotal role. Rest of the cast is still on discussion. But there will definitely be six or seven new actors in the movie. They will be professional footballers who will join the team line up along with Prithviraj,” says Jamesh.
Growing up in the land football, interestingly Jamesh too is a football player. “I am from Kottakal, Malappuram and in our area right from childhood we used to play football. During my school and college years, I used to play for our local football clubs. I still remember how height was an issue to enter into the club. So, we used to adopt various short cuts to reach into the team like tying wet cloth around the waist, digging the measuring scale deeper into the ground to forge the height were some of the techniques. The film will have all these flavours,” reminisces Jamesh who is loyal Brazilian supporter.
“We have now shot the football frenzy of the Malabaran region as there were tournaments going on,” he adds. The film is planned for a 2015 release.
