GOAL vs CHAK DE: No big deal!
In the thick of post-production buzz for his forthcoming soccer flick, Vivek Agnihotri comes across as a man with no time to spare for any small talk. Looking a bit hassled in his attempt to multi-task he prefers to keep his answers short. Chomping away a large pizza, the director talks about why he feels the media was biased towards his last release Chocolate and how the history of sports films in India goes way beyond Chak De India.
First of all, is it Goal or Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal? There is some confusion in the people’s minds.
It was always called Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal. From my side there is no confusion but can't do anything if most people call it just Goal. No title change has taken place.
But why did you choose football as the sport?
If I had chosen golf you would have asked me the same question.
Of course! I am assuming you don't just randomly pick up a topic for your film...
Well, I think cinematically football is the most spectacular and good-looking sport to watch on screen.
How did you finalise the casting?
Fitness was the biggest criteria for such a film and we auditioned nearly 300 people to get the right look. As for John Abraham, he has played football on a professional level and I guess is the most sporty Bollywood star. Arshad and I share a great rapport since Chocolate days while Bipasha is the fittest actress in the industry today. Why Boman Irani as the coach? I think once people watch the film they will realise no on else could do the part better.
But you didn’t repeat any other actor from Chocolate!
Which actor do you think can play football from that cast?
Well Emraan Hashmi, Anil Kapoor, Sunil Shetty…
Oh but they look too smart to pass off as sportsmen.
Now after the success of Chak De India, are you a little more confident about this film?
I have a problem with this notion that sports films are jinxed in Bollywood. We had Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Hip Hip Hurray etc which I think are classics and Chak De is just another addition to the list. So Chak De's success doesn't affect me in any way.
Anyway Goal started before Chak De India and has been in production for nearly two years. We had professional choreographers to shoot the matches on a lavish scale. My producers were confident about the film from day one and Chak De India has made no difference to our strategy.
