Last weekend, as the African football
players associated with Goan football were warming up and practising, they had
company on the field; a camera crew. This was because, Yasmin Kidwai, an award
winning documentary filmmaker, is making a documentary on African footballers
in India. The documentary will be screened at the 3rd India Africa Forum Summit
in Delhi in October.
“When one thinks of Africa, India and
football, you mix the three together and you get Goa as Goa is one of the
favourite places for African footballers. As the forum summit will include
business talk and conferences on what India has done for Africa, I wanted to
focus on what Africa has done for India,” says Yasmin. The shorter, ten-minute
version of the film produced by Spring Box Films will be screened at the forum
summit while a longer version will be worked by January 2016.
Interacting with players like Odafa Onyeka
Okolie and Ndidi Chukwumia, various clubs like Sporting Clube de Goa, and
football managers, the documentary portrays the everyday lives of African
players living in Goa.
Living in Delhi, Yasmin was amazed by the
number of football coaching classes conducted by African players. Though the
craze for football is gradually increasing across the country, Goa will always
top the list. Talking about her experience making this document, she says,
“When you talk about football to these players, nobody is surprised as they
feel it’s a natural, organic thing to play passionately. They were unfazed by
the cameras and the crew and were happier to play and practise in front of the
camera.”
Elaborating on what she has understood from
her field work, she continues, “The African footballers fit in fine and they
love everything about India, including the food. It’s all about the passion for
the game. I was in Kolkata two weeks back and observed how they have been
easily accepted by all classes of society and now call the city home. Though in
Delhi, there are cases of racism; that’s a different society. On the whole, the
coaches of various football clubs are African footballers who are well
respected, not only by the children, but they parents as well.”
The love that the receive is also returned.
“Goa is much loved by the players living here. They have been to different
countries in Asia but they prefer staying back in Goa even after retirement.
One such player is Juje Siddi, India’s and Salgaocar Sports Club’s goalkeeper.
Many footballers are even married to locals and have their families here,” adds
Yasmin, who previously directed documentaries like ‘No Problem’ and ‘Parda Hai
Parda’.
Yasmin ensures that her research is
thorough before heading out with her camera and capturing the true emotions of
the subject. “I spend majority of the time on research and I don’t shoot with a
voice-over or a script; basing everything on reactions. I let them do the
talking and I don’t tell them what I need. For the Goa shoot, I had informed
them that it is a documentary on African players in football and that’s it. I
avoid speaking to them before the shoot. Three players reacted well and one was
so happy that he preferred playing with my son instead of focussing on the
shoot,” says Yasmin, whose son is also learning to play football with an
African coach in Delhi.
Her next documentary that is ready for
release is ‘Jugaad’, which focuses on social solutions that were initiated by
Indians. “The film focuses on how these personalities have sourced something
within their means to make a difference to society. The film documents the
origins of the Sulabh International movement in India, the Jaipur Foot, which
creates rubber-based prosthetic leg for people with below-knee amputations, and
the Barefoot College in Rajasthan which pioneered solar electrification in
remote villages,” she concludes.
