‘22 Yards took a lifetime of research’
In a country where cricket is the most followed sport, making a film on the subject can be a daunting task as it requires one to get the facts about the game right. And the makers of the upcoming film 22 Yards were extremely mindful of it.
The director, Mitali Ghoshal, says, “The research for this was almost for a lifetime! (laughs) I was a sports journalist earlier, specifically covering cricket. The script writer of the film, Samrat, is a former cricketer. We were making a documentary on Sourav Ganguly a few years back and I was directing it. At that time Samrat and I, along with our team, were travelling the whole world. We got many perspectives, many of which were different from what I had as a journalist. Samrat wrote a beautiful script and research was after the initial casting. We did many workshops.”
Barun Sobti, who plays a sports businessman in the film, says, “I spent a lot of time in Kolkata and a lot of sports agents are based there . I was also there at the grounds where cricketers are born, so I got to know the business. Mitali, who has directed the film is a sports journalist, who knew the game really well.”
The film, which also stars Amartya Ray as a cricketer, has been in the making for some time now. Asked why it took so much time to settle on a release date, Mitali says the film might be pushed beyond its February 22 release date.
“Any indie filmmaker’s biggest hurdle is getting the right kind of investors. Everybody thinks yeh saas-bahu ki ladaai jaise hai — ‘When I came to this industry, I had gone through all this struggle, which a newcomer should…’ In this kind of process, a lot of good content gets lost,” Mitali says.