M'wood gears up for more sports movies

It's a mystery why Mollywood has taken so long to bring out movies with sports as the central theme. However, M-Town filmmakers have started thinking beyond their limitations, and are now looking at the possibilities of combining the state's two greatest loves ' sports and films.
With a slew of announced projects centred on sports ' from athletics to cricket ' this year could break open a new genre in Malayalam cinema that is sure to attract more audience in a sports-crazy state like ours.
The first such movie to hit the theatres this year would be Ann Augustine's Rebecca Uthup Kizhakkemala, which more than being a track-and-field story, would centre on the travails and rise of a female athlete played by Ann.
As the celebrity cricket fever rages on, Mollywood is currently gearing up to bring out a movie centred on the sport with actor Nivin Pauly leading from the front.
The film, which will be helmed by celebrity photographer Abrid Shine, is titled 1983. It will centre on the character played by Nivin and his memories from 1983 when India won its first World Cup under Kapil Dev to 2013, which is the 30th anniversary of the victory.
'The film starts off with Nivin's first memories of the sport in 1983, when he was 10 years old. The year shaped up his goals for future and his life from then on,' says Abrid, who will be co-scripting the film with Bipin Chandran.
Interestingly, the writers have drawn parallels for Nivin's character with master blaster Sachin Tendulkar. 'The protagonist was 10 years old ' the same age Sachin was when India won the World Cup. While Sachin got into the Indian team, Nivin's character could only make it to local tournaments. The story shows the central character, who is currently 38 years old, tracing his memories at three critical junctures of his life and how Sachin's life is connected to his,' Abrid explains.
The makers have already started filming a few scenes across the country but filming with the actors will kick off only from April. Apart from Nivin, Anoop Menon, Rajeev Pillai, Saiju Kurup, Aju Varghese, Shine Tom Chacko and Jacob Gregory will play prominent roles in the movie.
'Because it's a movie about cricket, a lot of youngsters will feature in it and we're also in discussions with several top actresses to play the female leads,' says the debutant director.
Another high-profile project focusing on female athletes titled Gold was announced last year. The flick, which had roped in Karthika Nair and Parvathy as lead, also promised special appearances by Mohanlal, Kunchacko Boban and Prithviraj. The flick was supposed to start last year with shots being filmed during the London Olympics. However, visa troubles had the makers postponing the project.
Its scribe Shankar Ramakrishnan had earlier told us, 'We have already approached Mohanlal, Prithviraj and Kunchacko Boban to star in the movie. The visa problem meant that we might have to wait till the next Olympics to film it but we're going to use the time to develop the central characters. In any case, the project is on.'
Interestingly, superstars Mohanlal and Mammootty endorsing sports have given it a big boost. The former is the goodwill ambassador of Kerala State Athletics and is leading the celebrity cricket team while Mammootty had served as the brand ambassador of Kerala volleyball league in 2010. Incidentally, Mammootty, who is a former volleyball player, is said to have a V K Prakash project in the pipeline, in which he would be playing a volleyball coach.
Mollywood going sporty!