Indians are passionate about cinema and cricket, but what happens if the two collide spectacularly in Dubai?
Gulf News witnessed this engaging union on October 17 at the special screening of the documentary-style feature ‘Haq Se India’ which chronicled India winning their first ICC T20 World Cup in South African in 2007, under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.
Produced by global sports executive and human brands expert Gaurav Bahirvani and Jaideep Pandya, the invites-only screening saw Indian fast bowler S Sreesanth also attend. In the film, S Sreesanth spoke about taking that iconic catch of Pakistani cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq that helped India clinch the cup.
“I had some super power on my eyes -- 3.75 on my right eye and 2.75 on my left eye -- and I honestly didn’t want that ball to come to me! Fortunately, it came to me, I caught it, and the rest is history,” said S Sreesanth in an interview with Gulf News.
The bowler, who was accused and cleared of match-fixing allegations, claims that re-living that victorious moments with ‘Haq Se India’ was cathartic.
“A lot of people don’t know what exactly happened behind the scene. So this documentary is all about letting the cricket lovers across the world what cricketers go through ... We were the real underdogs who won that year,” said Sreesanth.
For producers Bahirvani and Pandya -- who feature in the documentary as the forces behind getting all those celebrated players speak about their career-defining match -- the idea of telling a remarkable tale about the triumph of team-spirit propelled them to pour all their energies into this project.
“The story of ‘Haq Se India’ has never been told and their win changed the game of Indian cricket forever ... If those guys had not won that day, the IPL would not have gotten such a boost ... IPL was announced just a month before they won this match ... but it took off,” said Bahirvani.
Bahirvani, Founder and CEO of One One Six Network Limited, is known as Jerry Maguire of India and has represented the likes of MS Dhoni.
The screening was followed by a swift auction of some memorabilia from that iconic match. The bat, signed by all the players featured in the documentary -- went under the gavel for a whopping Dh50,000. The screening also saw the well-heeled set of Dubai attend.
‘Haq Se India’ will release in the UAE cinemas and on a web streaming platform next month. Read the full interviews in Gulf News soon.
