The makers of Amitabh Bachchan’s upcoming sports drama Jhund dropped the trailer on Wednesday (23 February). The trailer features Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay, a football coach who tries to enlist kids from a slum in his football team. While Vijay remains adamant that the kids are capable of change, people around him remain skeptical.
The trailer also shows that Vijay wants to sway the kids away from a life of crime and violence. Vijay eventually manages to rally them together and starts training them as a football team. A fight to get the team recognised as legitimate follows.
Ahead of the film’s release, Amitabh Bachchan shared a new poster for the film with the caption, “Aayi yeh toli hai, haath milake ek hi cheez boli hai. Aaj aayega trailer, bas rehna taiyaar aap!”
The film is based on the life of social worker Vijay Barse. Barse had told Hindustan Times, “It has been made and delayed for so long. I myself want that it release in theatres. I have been trying and struggling for that a lot. The entire crew has come together to support me in that and we all now will try to get it released in theatres when the time is right.”
The Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Jhund is directed by Nagraj Manjule, who previously helmed Sairat. The film is scheduled to release theatrically on 4 March after its initial release was postponed due to the COVID pandemic. Jhund also stars Rinku Rajguru and Akash Thosar.
Who Is Dr Vijay Barse, the Founder of 'Slum Soccer'?
Dr Vijay Barse is the founder of ‘Slum Soccer’ which conducts tournaments at the state and national levels. He was the sports teacher at Hislop College in Nagpur. Talking about how he came up with the idea of Slum Soccer, Barse said during a TED talk, “In 2002, I was on my way to the university and it started raining. I took shelter under a tree and I heard some kids playing football by kicking around a plastic bucket.”
He added, “I took a football from my institution and I gave it to them. I asked them, ‘Can you play a football match?’ and they were overjoyed. I had to find another team. I found more boys playing football with a tennis ball so I gave them a ball too. Both teams came to my ground two hours before they were, they had tidied up a bit. That was the start of ‘Slum Soccer’.”
He then founded the Krida Vikas Sanstha Nagpur (KSVN) with his wife, Prof Ranjana and son Dr Abhijeet. One of the kids Barse helped, Akhilesh Paul was also hosted by Aamir Khan on his show Satyamev Jayate. Akhilesh revealed that Barse would give every kid Rs 5 every day after they played football till one day, the kids started playing without expecting money.
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