MUMBAI MIRROR (June 27, 2019)

At a time when the country is reeling under the World Cup fever, acclaimed director Abhinay Deo is back with a socio-sports drama titled Doosra. The film traces how cricket has changed modern India, through the eyes of a young girl’s coming-of-age story. The film progresses from 1992 to 2002—a seminal decade in India’s contemporary history. Using a first-of-its-kind mixed-narrative format, Deo weaves archival events in a fictional tale to present a unique hybrid of cinematic story-telling.

Doosra meshes two stories of courage and identity. One focusses on a maverick cricket captain, Sourav Ganguly and his defiant young team, and the other chronicles the life of a young girl growing up in an orthodox North-Indian social structure. What brings the two narratives to a head is a single event: when Captain Sourav Ganguly pulls off his T-shirt and waves it bare-chested from the balcony at Lords after the 2002 NatWest final. It was a victory celebration that suddenly transformed into an iconic symbol of national assertiveness for a new generation of Indians.

Director Abhinay Deo says, “We secured our political freedom from the British in 1947. But it was not until July 13, 2002, when Sourav Ganguly stood bare-chested, pumping fists defiantly on that balcony at Lords, that the whole nation and I felt truly comfortable with who we are and with being unapologetically Indian. It’s perhaps because nothing galvanises this country more than cricket. This film presented me with a unique opportunity to chronicle this untold chapter in India’s modern history.”

The idea for Doosra came from Chicago-based executive producers, Masha and Rohan Saideh, which was then developed into a story and screenplay by India’s first advertising Grand Prix winner at Cannes—Agnello Dias. Actors Plabita Borthakur (PK, Lipstick Under My Burkha) and Ankur Vikal (Slumdog Millionaire) play the principal characters.