“ Sport kahan hai? ” is a question that springs to mind when one thinks about India, a nation of more than one billion that rarely produces medal winning athletes at international levels.
The story behind the movie Khwaabb , directed by young shooter Zaid Ali Khan and starring Simer Motiani and Navdip Singh as protagonists, is trying to find an answer to this interrogative. It is the story of a boy and a girl with a great and unknown, sporting talent – she is a swimmer and he is a runner – and their struggle to earn a place for themselves in the sporting arena. While training they are followed by a coach who is at times gruff, motivating them not to give up on their ambitions.
The movie tells the birth of a dream and its clash with the real Indian sporting scenario, often ruined by corrupt and power-hungry administrators. Asked about the choice of the sports for the movie, Zaid Ali Khan, said that he preferred to describe unconventional sports, a world where contradictions are more pronounced and where the battle to emerge is more complicated. Behind sport, however, there is also the emotional life of the two athletes, and, of course love is not absent.
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“This is the story of a sort of a double challenge,” said Navdip Singh, adding that “characters have to face the normal competition that is inherent in every sport contest along with all several other difficulties – money, equipment, training – of pursuing their dream, even the fact that both hail from small villages.” The challenge can be considered even tougher for the character played by Simer Motiani, who has to face the additional problem of being a young woman in a social context where, usually, women are perceived as mothers and housewives than as potential sports champions.
“The plot and the characters are very realistic and I am sure that almost everybody can relate his or her experience with the story,” said Zaid, who places himself in the genre of realistic cinema that is gaining ground in India in the recent years, in particular among young artists.
According to the entire cast, the movie is strongly motivational and wants to give the message that dreams must be pursued, no matter what the impediments are or even if you need to sacrifice a lot.
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The cast of the film participated in an event where they interacted with children from Naz, a non-government organisation working in the field of AIDS and sexual health. They underlined the importance of sports in the process of building self-esteem and healthcare.