Here’s Why Bachchan Returned to ‘Jhund’ After Backing Out

‘Jhund’ is slated to release in May.

Jhund stars Amitabh Bachchan.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

New year means new projects for Amitabh Bachchan. The Dada Saheb Phalke award winner has many releases planned for this year, one of them being Nagraj Manjule’s Jhund, which was scheduled to release in September 2019 but has been delayed.

Jhund is based on the life of Vijay Barse, a Nagpur-based retired sports professor who pioneered the international phenomenon of ‘Jhoparpatti Football’ (Slum football).

Barse once came across a few slum kids who were playing football with a broken plastic bucket. It’s when he realised that sports could be a great way to empower the children and keep them away from the distracting evils of gambling and theft. Amitabh Bachchan essays the role of Barse and the film is slated to release on 8 May.

According to a report by Mumbai Mirror, Jhund was shot over a period of time across various cities in India: Faridabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Trivandrum and the climax in Nagpur. In order to make the film as authentic as possible, the director not only made children living in the slums a part of the film but also cohabitated with them. This helped bridge the gap between the filmmaker and the cast, including Amitabh Bachchan.

While filming the climax of Jhund in Nagpur, Bachchan developed a special bond with the children.

He would spend most of his time mentoring and speaking to the kids. He’d often give them quiz questions as a kind of homework. The children were also allowed to express their own creativity. A 30-second musical sequence created by the children has been incorporated in the film.

Another interesting fact is that Bachchan had initially opted out of the film. However it was Aamir Khan, who is fond of the Sairat director, who convinced Bachchan to return to the role.

The first look of Jhund was released in February 2019.

A still from Jhund.(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

In December 2018, Bachchan took to Twitter and shared a few photograph of himself and captioned: "'Nagpur' for 'Jhund' -- the new project by Nagraj , his first in Hindi, the maker of 'Sairat' the Marathi block buster .. a centre of attraction and 'Nagpur', geographically apparently the centre of geographic India. May the two centres thrive!"

(With inputs from Mumbai Mirror)