Malayalam filmmakers have shifted their attention to football with quite a few films being made on the theme.
There is one scene in Captain, where Sathyan meets his betrothed at a bus stop and delivers a dialogue when she speaks with least regard about football and the player he is; that she’d soon be the wife of the Indian football team captain. Pointing to the graffiti of Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar on a wall, the girl responds purposefully to let him down. Instances are many in this movie, where football was weighed down for the celebrity status of cricket. The story is not the same again. The ISL (Indian Super League) fever has crept into M-Town as well. Our filmmakers have sensed it is the right time to strike football stories. The ball game is becoming a popular thread for Malayalam movies, proves Captain, Sudani from Nigeria and the biopic on I.M. Vijayan in the pipeline.
The trendsetter is Prajesh Sen’s Jayasurya movie, Captain. “Football was out of vogue once, arrival of television and inclination towards cricket adding to it. The ISL has come and the same television upped its rating. People have got a reason to return to the sport. The number of tourneys is rising and football frenzy is spiralling up with each passing day. That an ace cricketer is buying a football team shows the market value it has. As the game of football keeps the spirits soaring, cricket lets people stay relaxed at some points. If the stories of the victorious are celebrated, the history of the failed comes with a lesson,” says Prajesh. With the film running successfully for 50 days, Prajesh is compiling hundreds of reviews of Captain that appeared in social media and other spaces to be made into a book.
Zakariya Mohammed has retained the essence of the sport to tell a movie of human life stories. Sudani from Nigeria is getting good reviews from all corners within days of its release. “Without tagging it as a sports movie, I set football as a backdrop to tell the story from another perspective. It is a story, a family drama that happened because there’s football. Everyone is connected in one way or the other because of it,” says he. The director’s reference was his life experiences, of being raised in a football lovers’ village in Malappuram. “Football has been the biggest crowd puller in the Malabar region for years. What I grew up watching. Wherever there is a tourney, a crowd would gather in no time. Malappuram conducts the annual sevens tournament every year without fail. ISL and Kerala Blasters have definitely raised its worth. If I were to make a movie, I had a football story in my mind,” says Zakariya.
About his life story becoming a movie, I.M. Vijayan the legendary player-cum-actor had only one condition about the actor who enacts him on screen. “All I asked Nivin Pauly was if he knows how to play football. He actually knows it and played in his school days. Upon getting injured, he stopped. I am sure he knows how to trap and kick a ball,” smiles Vijayan. Vijayan and director Arun Gopy have been discussing the movie for about five years. “I narrated my life and story, that’s it. Since I mostly played out of the state, there’s more national perspective to it. Attention to detail is something I feel is important in doing a biographical film. For instance, in Pele: Birth of a Legend, the actor was left-oriented whereas Pele was good at playing with both legs. Nivin is left-handed I know. Let’s see how it comes out,” says Vijayan. He is doing a cop’s role in the Mammootty movie Abrahaminte Santhathikal.
Arun feels it is his responsibility to tell the story of a legend like Vijayan. “Unlike cricket, football has a culture closely linked to our blood. The game in Malabar is not the same as in Thrissur or Thiruvananthapuram. Thrissur has an unexplored culture. Beach football is the picture in Thiruvananthapuram. If the British played it to relax, the sport was the life and soul for the soccer lovers in Kerala. There was a time when people played with huge cloth balls. Those who lived and died for it— each kick came from their hearts,” he says. Tight-lipped about his project, he reveals the movie would start rolling in 2019. It is indeed a good start, perhaps Mollywood is left to have an era of football in its history.
Santosh Trophy 2018: Satheevan Balan - Lack of promoters and exposure hurting growth of Kerala football
The former Calicut University coach and national team scout has seen his team sweep past opponents at the Santosh Trophy 2018...
Five-time Santosh Trophy champions Kerala are once again in the limelight in the 2018 edition of the prestigious tournament that has helped produce countless revelations in the form of football players ever since its inception 77 years ago.
The youngest-ever Kerala team have swept past their opponents in the first three games. Under the tutelage of former Calicut University coach and Indian national team scout Satheevan Balan, Kerala defeated Chandigarh 5-1 in their tournament opener before handing out 6-0 and 3-0 thrashings to Manipur and Maharashtra to advance into the semi-final.
"We selected a very young team that we believed can compete. They proved during the South Zone matches and we qualified. We understood this team was capable to put up a fight against any other team at an all-India level," spoke head coach Satheevan exclusively to Goal.
"These junior players have done their respective roles very well. The captain (Rahul Raj) is giving them ample support. Initially, we did not think we would win the first three games. In our first game, we did not know much about our opponents. We played attacking football and won. Then we started watching other games and deduced their strengths and prepared."
However, the bold decision to go into the tournament with such a young squad was not an easy decision to make. "It was challenging to select a young squad. If we do not win, everyone will put the blame on me and say that it's because I did not select experienced players. But experience alone is not enough here.
"I called up all senior, experienced players for the camp and gave them a chance. Some turned up, some of them did not. I observed those who came and chose the players whom I thought could play according to my style and strategies. I saw that in youngsters. I looked at whether they can work hard and perform their roles well."
Satheevan was appointed national team scout under Stephen Constantine in 2015 and the current crop of players playing for him will be hopeful about what is at stake - a key to unlock the door into the national team set-up.
"I have been given the freedom to scout players from Kerala. I am not officially a scout because I am in charge of the Kerala team. But I have the freedom to pick any player from this tournament and recommend," he mentioned.
"I have already prepared a list that consists of several players who have featured here and at the University level football tournament."
The likes of Jithin MS, Afdal and Rahul KP have all caught the eye with their excellent displays in the competition so far but Satheevan credits the team as a whole and projects a united front.
"According to me, everybody is equal. Goalkeeping (Midhun V) is one of the most important areas of the team. He saves the team when everyone else fails. It is not just about the brilliance of an individual but their qualities are helping the team be it Jithin MS, Jithin G, Afdal or Rahul KP. They are all involved."
"The backline consists of experienced players and they are doing well not to concede. So they are also heroes. It is all about unity and playing as a team."
The Kerala head coach also propounded the theory of lack of exposure to Kerala footballers compared to the ones from the north-eastern region of the country.
"Look at the squads of any team, we can see that Kerala-born players are doing well. Even in the Indian team, Anas Edathodika is the best defender. In the junior team, there is KP Rahul. But the number of players from Kerala is low as compared to the north-east region. That is due to lack of promoters and exposure," posited Satheevan.
"The north-east players are getting the chance to go to any football school in India but Kerala players are not getting that chance. Those are the players who get into the national team."
Kerala, chasing their first title since 2004, are up against defending champions West Bengal in their final group game on March 27. "We are playing to be top of the group. The match against the home team will be difficult but we want to win," concluded the confident Malayali coach.
The glamour of Indian Super League and the heroics of the Santosh Trophy team is likely to attract more youngsters to the beautiful game.
As S. Seesan's scorching kick from the penalty spot went like a bullet to the back of Bengal's net at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, V. Midhun sank to the ground, unable to control his emotions. Those weren't the only tears of joy shed by a Keralite on Sunday evening.Hundreds of thousands of Malayalam-speaking football fans could empathise with Midhun, who was one of the heroes for Kerala in the Santosh Trophy final. They know what winning the national championship means to a state that is mad about football and that which has produced some of the greatest ever players for India.
Mithun had brought off two successive saves at the start of the penalty shootout which had almost ensured Kerala would win the Santosh Trophy after a gap of 14 years; this is its sixth title.
But, not many would have betted on this young team to triumph in Kolkata. Even to make it to the semifinals from a group that inlcuded Bengal, the defending champion and host, was considered a challenge.
Kerala, however, went on to top the group, beating Bengal. Then it overcame another tough hurdle in the form of Mizoram in the semifinal.
Much of the credit for this remarkable success should go to coach Satheevan Balan. It was his maiden assignment with the senior Kerala team. Shortly before he left for Kolkata, the Thiruvananthapuram-based coach had told this publication that the job was nothing less than a dream-come-true.
Satheevan and his boys could not have timed their fairytale better. Football is on a comeback trail in the state, thanks largely to the popularity of Kerala Blasters and the Indian Super League. The giant-killing acts of Gokulam Kerala FC in the I-League too have caught the popular imagination.
All this offers hope for Kerala, which has come a long way from the time when half the Indian side spoke Malayalam. There have been occasions in the recent past when there wasn't a single Keralite in the national team.
The heroics of the Santosh Trophy team should attract more youngsters to the beautiful game. Kerala badly needs that.
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Football mania grips Mollywood
Malayalam filmmakers have shifted their attention to football with quite a few films being made on the theme.
There is one scene in Captain, where Sathyan meets his betrothed at a bus stop and delivers a dialogue when she speaks with least regard about football and the player he is; that she’d soon be the wife of the Indian football team captain. Pointing to the graffiti of Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar on a wall, the girl responds purposefully to let him down. Instances are many in this movie, where football was weighed down for the celebrity status of cricket. The story is not the same again. The ISL (Indian Super League) fever has crept into M-Town as well. Our filmmakers have sensed it is the right time to strike football stories. The ball game is becoming a popular thread for Malayalam movies, proves Captain, Sudani from Nigeria and the biopic on I.M. Vijayan in the pipeline.
The trendsetter is Prajesh Sen’s Jayasurya movie, Captain. “Football was out of vogue once, arrival of television and inclination towards cricket adding to it. The ISL has come and the same television upped its rating. People have got a reason to return to the sport. The number of tourneys is rising and football frenzy is spiralling up with each passing day. That an ace cricketer is buying a football team shows the market value it has. As the game of football keeps the spirits soaring, cricket lets people stay relaxed at some points. If the stories of the victorious are celebrated, the history of the failed comes with a lesson,” says Prajesh. With the film running successfully for 50 days, Prajesh is compiling hundreds of reviews of Captain that appeared in social media and other spaces to be made into a book.
Zakariya Mohammed has retained the essence of the sport to tell a movie of human life stories. Sudani from Nigeria is getting good reviews from all corners within days of its release. “Without tagging it as a sports movie, I set football as a backdrop to tell the story from another perspective. It is a story, a family drama that happened because there’s football. Everyone is connected in one way or the other because of it,” says he. The director’s reference was his life experiences, of being raised in a football lovers’ village in Malappuram. “Football has been the biggest crowd puller in the Malabar region for years. What I grew up watching. Wherever there is a tourney, a crowd would gather in no time. Malappuram conducts the annual sevens tournament every year without fail. ISL and Kerala Blasters have definitely raised its worth. If I were to make a movie, I had a football story in my mind,” says Zakariya.
About his life story becoming a movie, I.M. Vijayan the legendary player-cum-actor had only one condition about the actor who enacts him on screen. “All I asked Nivin Pauly was if he knows how to play football. He actually knows it and played in his school days. Upon getting injured, he stopped. I am sure he knows how to trap and kick a ball,” smiles Vijayan. Vijayan and director Arun Gopy have been discussing the movie for about five years. “I narrated my life and story, that’s it. Since I mostly played out of the state, there’s more national perspective to it. Attention to detail is something I feel is important in doing a biographical film. For instance, in Pele: Birth of a Legend, the actor was left-oriented whereas Pele was good at playing with both legs. Nivin is left-handed I know. Let’s see how it comes out,” says Vijayan. He is doing a cop’s role in the Mammootty movie Abrahaminte Santhathikal.
Arun feels it is his responsibility to tell the story of a legend like Vijayan. “Unlike cricket, football has a culture closely linked to our blood. The game in Malabar is not the same as in Thrissur or Thiruvananthapuram. Thrissur has an unexplored culture. Beach football is the picture in Thiruvananthapuram. If the British played it to relax, the sport was the life and soul for the soccer lovers in Kerala. There was a time when people played with huge cloth balls. Those who lived and died for it— each kick came from their hearts,” he says. Tight-lipped about his project, he reveals the movie would start rolling in 2019. It is indeed a good start, perhaps Mollywood is left to have an era of football in its history.
Santosh Trophy 2018: Satheevan Balan - Lack of promoters and exposure hurting growth of Kerala football
Five-time Santosh Trophy champions Kerala are once again in the limelight in the 2018 edition of the prestigious tournament that has helped produce countless revelations in the form of football players ever since its inception 77 years ago.
The youngest-ever Kerala team have swept past their opponents in the first three games. Under the tutelage of former Calicut University coach and Indian national team scout Satheevan Balan, Kerala defeated Chandigarh 5-1 in their tournament opener before handing out 6-0 and 3-0 thrashings to Manipur and Maharashtra to advance into the semi-final.
"We selected a very young team that we believed can compete. They proved during the South Zone matches and we qualified. We understood this team was capable to put up a fight against any other team at an all-India level," spoke head coach Satheevan exclusively to Goal.
"These junior players have done their respective roles very well. The captain (Rahul Raj) is giving them ample support. Initially, we did not think we would win the first three games. In our first game, we did not know much about our opponents. We played attacking football and won. Then we started watching other games and deduced their strengths and prepared."
However, the bold decision to go into the tournament with such a young squad was not an easy decision to make. "It was challenging to select a young squad. If we do not win, everyone will put the blame on me and say that it's because I did not select experienced players. But experience alone is not enough here.
"I called up all senior, experienced players for the camp and gave them a chance. Some turned up, some of them did not. I observed those who came and chose the players whom I thought could play according to my style and strategies. I saw that in youngsters. I looked at whether they can work hard and perform their roles well."
Satheevan was appointed national team scout under Stephen Constantine in 2015 and the current crop of players playing for him will be hopeful about what is at stake - a key to unlock the door into the national team set-up.
"I have been given the freedom to scout players from Kerala. I am not officially a scout because I am in charge of the Kerala team. But I have the freedom to pick any player from this tournament and recommend," he mentioned.
"I have already prepared a list that consists of several players who have featured here and at the University level football tournament."
The likes of Jithin MS, Afdal and Rahul KP have all caught the eye with their excellent displays in the competition so far but Satheevan credits the team as a whole and projects a united front.
"According to me, everybody is equal. Goalkeeping (Midhun V) is one of the most important areas of the team. He saves the team when everyone else fails. It is not just about the brilliance of an individual but their qualities are helping the team be it Jithin MS, Jithin G, Afdal or Rahul KP. They are all involved."
"The backline consists of experienced players and they are doing well not to concede. So they are also heroes. It is all about unity and playing as a team."
The Kerala head coach also propounded the theory of lack of exposure to Kerala footballers compared to the ones from the north-eastern region of the country.
"Look at the squads of any team, we can see that Kerala-born players are doing well. Even in the Indian team, Anas Edathodika is the best defender. In the junior team, there is KP Rahul. But the number of players from Kerala is low as compared to the north-east region. That is due to lack of promoters and exposure," posited Satheevan.
"The north-east players are getting the chance to go to any football school in India but Kerala players are not getting that chance. Those are the players who get into the national team."
Kerala, chasing their first title since 2004, are up against defending champions West Bengal in their final group game on March 27. "We are playing to be top of the group. The match against the home team will be difficult but we want to win," concluded the confident Malayali coach.
@indian_gooner ;
The return of Kerala on the football map
The glamour of Indian Super League and the heroics of the Santosh Trophy team is likely to attract more youngsters to the beautiful game.
As S. Seesan's scorching kick from the penalty spot went like a bullet to the back of Bengal's net at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, V. Midhun sank to the ground, unable to control his emotions. Those weren't the only tears of joy shed by a Keralite on Sunday evening.Hundreds of thousands of Malayalam-speaking football fans could empathise with Midhun, who was one of the heroes for Kerala in the Santosh Trophy final. They know what winning the national championship means to a state that is mad about football and that which has produced some of the greatest ever players for India.
Mithun had brought off two successive saves at the start of the penalty shootout which had almost ensured Kerala would win the Santosh Trophy after a gap of 14 years; this is its sixth title.
But, not many would have betted on this young team to triumph in Kolkata. Even to make it to the semifinals from a group that inlcuded Bengal, the defending champion and host, was considered a challenge.
Kerala, however, went on to top the group, beating Bengal. Then it overcame another tough hurdle in the form of Mizoram in the semifinal.
Much of the credit for this remarkable success should go to coach Satheevan Balan. It was his maiden assignment with the senior Kerala team. Shortly before he left for Kolkata, the Thiruvananthapuram-based coach had told this publication that the job was nothing less than a dream-come-true.
Satheevan and his boys could not have timed their fairytale better. Football is on a comeback trail in the state, thanks largely to the popularity of Kerala Blasters and the Indian Super League. The giant-killing acts of Gokulam Kerala FC in the I-League too have caught the popular imagination.
All this offers hope for Kerala, which has come a long way from the time when half the Indian side spoke Malayalam. There have been occasions in the recent past when there wasn't a single Keralite in the national team.
The heroics of the Santosh Trophy team should attract more youngsters to the beautiful game. Kerala badly needs that.