190116 Saurav Ganguly
Saurav Ganguly Image Credit: AP

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly will launch the trailer of the Hindi film ‘22 Yards’, helmed by Mitali Ghoshal and starring Barun Sobti, at an event in Mumbai on Wednesday.

“This film is based on cricket, so we asked Sourav Ganguly to launch the trailer, and it was very nice of him to agree. He has not seen the full film, but he has seen the trailer and he loved it,” Ghoshal, who has been a sports journalist herself, said over phone from Mumbai.

This is not Ghoshal’s first brush with filmmaking. She had made ‘The Warrior Prince’, a docu-feature on Ganguly, and which had narration by veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan.

“Saurav knows me from my days as a journalist. When I approached him, he saw the trailer and he loved it very much. He is a person who will not give his word for something without watching it, however close he may be to that person. So, he saw the trailer, loved it and the subject, and so he agreed to come and launch the trailer,” Ghoshal said.

The movie, releasing on February 22, is a triumphant tale of two individuals, a cricket agent and a young cricketer, overcoming numerous barriers and winning the toughest battle of life against all odds.

‘22 Yards’ has been in the works for more than three years. For the movie, Ghoshal has worked closely with Samrat, the story, screenplay and dialogue writer for the film.

Barun plays the lead role of Ron Sen, while Panchi Bora will essay Sonali in the film, which will introduce Amartya Ray as Shome Ray.

Other main cast members include Rajit Kapur, Rajesh Sharma, Chaiti Ghoshal, Geetika Tyagi and Mrinal Mukherjee.