Bringing Dada Back: How Abhinay Deo's Doosra Juxtaposes Sourav Ganguly's 2002 Win With A Patriarchal Background-FPJ Exclusive
· Free Press Journal
Filmmaker Abhinay Deo’s upcoming theatrical film Doosra is anchored in India’s famous 2002 NatWest Final victory over England. The movie takes the iconic image of a defiant Sourav Ganguly waving his shirt from the Lord’s balcony in an unexpected new direction, weaving this intensely public moment with a deeply private story of a young girl. Tara (played by Plabita Borthakur), a misfit in a conservative household, faces questions about herself and the ways of the world. Watching the Indian captain’s audacious act of rebellion on television, Tara finds the courage to speak truth to power in her world regardless of the consequences.
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In an exclusive interaction with us, Abhinay speaks to us about the making of the film, delays and more.
Out of all the cricketers, why did you choose Sourav Ganguly?
The film isn’t just about Sourav Ganguly, it's about that brave moment, some even call it even a brash act of defiance which ended up becoming a very important turning point of many things to come after that. So it is not about him, if some other cricketer would have done it, we would have still used the same moment. But then again, Sourav dada was responsible for that particular moment as an individual who decided to take his T-shirt off and wave it at the Lord’s balcony, and that incredible victory as a captain.
Director Abhinay DeoDoosra was supposed to release in 2019, what led to the delay?
So obviously we have to consider that for around 2-3 years in that period we had COVID. In 2018- 2019, we shot the film and I finished editing the film in 2020.
Now, to make a film like this, where we are accumulating footage from different parts of the world, from different channels, sources, putting it together, we need to be very clear about the precise footage we are getting, to be shown alongside the fictional part. Making sure that all the footage was lined up in the right way, and getting the rights for it, is what took time. So 2.5 years for COVID, and 2.5 years to get all the footage in place.
I really feel that ‘samay’ is very important, when the time is right, things - and I think the time is right now. We just finished putting the whole film together less than a few months back, and hence decided the right time to release it was now.
Did Ganguly know that you were making a semi movie on him?
Yes, the communication with him and his and his team has been on since 2017-18, from the point when we decided to do this film.
Plus, obviously, when there was a small part that I was shooting in Lords for which we had lined up a few interviews, including Dada’s. He was very much at Lord’s at that point, but because he was busy he could not make it to the interview.