Filmmaker Nagesh Kukunoor has finally made his first completely Hindi film, Iqbal. The film produced by Subhash Ghai is a simple and sensitive story of the journey of a deaf-mute 18-year-old boy from his “silent” life in the village into the thick of Indian cricket.
Kukunoor feels that Iqbal “works” because of two things: “We are all passionate about sport and we all root for the underdog.” On shooting a cricket film, Kukunoor says that it is easy to cheat batting and spin bowling, but hardest to cheat is pace bowling, which is Iqbal’s forte.
“I wanted to be able to shoot from all angles and I wanted to take the camera down to the pitch. I was sure that I did not want the film shot like Lagaan. I wanted an actor who could bowl, so we looked at coaching camps, orphanages, and auditioned actors. Those who could act could not bowl. Those who could bowl, could not act. We finally auditioned Shreyas and he was phenomenal. He is an actor who was a pace bowler in the league.”
Former Indian pace bowler Kapil Dev makes a special appearance in the film. Shreyas (a Marathi TV serial actor), who plays Iqbal, mimics Kapil Dev's bowling action while Iqbal’s mother is a big Dev fan, so it was critical to have the former Indian player in the film.
“Subhash Ghai knows Kapil Dev, so he facilitated his being in the film,” says Kukunoor who is not concerned about the fact that previous cricket films (barring Lagaan) have not fared well at the box office. "he good thing is that cricket doesn't need to be explained, but at the same time audiences are very savvy about the sport. But I feel one should tell a good story, which we have.”
The film also stars Girish Karnad and Naseeruddin Shah, who play Iqbal’s coaches. “Naseer is passionate about the game and he and the crew would be playing cricket even between takes,” says Kukunoor who had Andhra Ranji player Vincent on board for expert advice and used his own college locker room experience to add authenticity to the film.
As for the sign language used by Iqbal’s family, Kukunoor points out, “Sign language is not taught in villages so they make up their own. We took the help of teachers to create a language of the most common vocabulary and gave each actor their dialogues in sign language.”
Former cricketer Sandeep Patil was one of the first persons to see Iqbal. “It is a very well made, simple story. Every child dreams of achieving something and this is how he reaches the top, especially if he chooses cricket,” says Patil who was so delighted after the screening that he promptly called his former teammate. “Kapil was surprised when I called him. I called him because even though he has only one dialogue, he added that right spark.”
Patil was also impressed by the nuances in the film. “There is much more to cricket than a bat and ball. They have shown what club-level team training is about, including rivalry and jealousy during the training camp. Given their present form, I wish the Indian team watches this film and gets some inspiration.”
