‘Film comes from the sad situation’

…that we have more sports films than medals, says Anurag Kashyap

A nurag Kashyap said his upcoming movie

Mukkabaaz comes from the “irony” and the “sad situation” that the country has more sports films than medals. The film chronicles the story of a boxer from Uttar Pradesh, Shravan Singh (Vineet Kumar Singh), who falls in love with a Brahmin girl. Things take a turn when he lands a punch to the head of the boxing federation and politician gangster, Bhagwan Das, played by Jimmy Shergill.

The film then sets out on the journey of the underdog who fights corrupt system, deep-rooted casteism and societal pressure for his boxing dreams and love. “We have more sports movies than medals. The film comes from that sad situation. In population, we are second after China, but in the medal tally we always lag behind. Why is it happening, why can’t we produce sportsmen? There is a problem in our sports system. Through this film and through a love story we are trying to explore that. It’s a very pro-sports film. I call it the most prosports film,” Kashyap told reporters here at the trailer launch of the film.

The Gangs of Wasseypur director said as a nation we tend to celebrate “small medals” so much that we often miss the larger picture. “We get a little something and burst into celebrations. We go crazy, don’t understand what’s happening. A small medal is celebrated so much that the person who won that doesn’t even qualify the next time. The film comes from that irony.”

Kashyap said the film aims to have a larger commentary on the situation of sports in the country. “We worked under the radar for the film for a long time. The film looks at how in sports we have to deal with things which are not connected to it... It’s only in our country that the sportsmen travel in economy class and the people taking them fly business class. The irony exists only in our country and then we expect medals.”