Two days after Mirror report on Nila Madhab Panda’s rugby coach film, Ujjwal Chatterjee says he’s working on the same subject
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 4, 2017)

Mirror had earlier reported (October 2) that I Am Kalam director Nila Madhab Panda is gearing up to make a biopic on Rudrakesh Jena, the coach of the rugby team of the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) and was in talks with Abhishek Bachchan to play the lead. The film is scheduled to kick off early next year and will be shot in India and the UK. Now, we have learnt that National award-winning director, Ujjwal Chatterjee, is also making a film on the same subject. His film kicks off in November and Farhan Akhtar has been approached to play Jena. He has also roped in Paul Walsh, a former British footballer.

Ujjwal told Mirror, “Mukesh Khanna, the chairman of Children’s Film Society of India (CFSI), and I started our research in 2011 and have been working on the project since the last one year. Our story is about 12 tribal boys from Mayurbhanj, Jharkhand and Bhubaneshwar who are students of the KISS and won the international School Rugby Tournament in London. I was shocked to learn that another film is being planned on the same subject. CFSI has already informed KISS that we have the rights to Jena’s story.”

He went on to add that he is in touch with Farhan’s manager and is waiting for the actor to revert. “The film will be directed by me and produced by CFSI. It will be shot in Mumbai, Kolkata and Bhubaneshwar.”

In 2007, KISS’s Under-14 rugby team won the International School Rugby Tournament in London. It was a milestone achievement for this one-of-its kind school which provides free accommodation, food, healthcare and education from class one to post-graduation, along with vocational training, to its players.

Mukesh Khanna pointed out that the film was taking time to roll because of insufficient funds. “Meanwhile we learnt that another film is being made planned with Abhishek Bachchan on the same subject. We can’t stop people from making films on a real life person. From what I know, the producer of that film was supposed to make it with Ujjwal but is now going ahead with someone else which is not right,” he asserted.

Mirror reached out to Shabbir Boxwala, the producer of Panda’s film, he said, “Ujjwal has taken money from me and has to return it. It is a legal matter.”