SYNOPSIS

Iqbal, written and directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, is a perfectly crafted story of simple folk with huge dreams. The fight for something that we really want but there are a lot of troubles in the way. It´s a story that leaves you meditate about the life and shows the power of the human mind when they want to get something. Drama and sport together to make a values film with cricket at its core and sincerity in its storytelling.

Iqbal, like most 18 year olds, detests work or sharing the responsibilities of earning bread and butter for his family. He is unique not because he is dumb and mute, but because he does not consider that a limitation. Neither do his mother and sister, who share his aspiration of becoming a cricketer in the national team. Far from the growing 'scientific training' for cricket, Iqbal practices bowling alone on a dry patch of land. His first taste of professional training comes when his sister convinces the coach (Girish Karnad) of the Kolipad Cricket Academy to enroll him. Though the politics in the Academy finally takes over and Iqbal is thrown out.

The disappointment lasts only for a while, till he finds out that the village drunkard Mohit had been a fast bowler for the state team but never quite went on to represent India. While Mohit is happy drowning his frustrations in the bottle and leading an anonymous life, Iqbal just won't relent. He pesters Mohit into teaching him the finer points of bowling. Mohit picks up the challenge reluctantly, struggles to make him understand about the game in sign language.

When Iqbal finally achieves his dream but he can't hear the deafening cheers in the stadium. However, he has lived the moment so many times in his dreams, he doesn't need to.

Iqbal ,it doesn´t follow the usual style of Indian films, was well received by critics and audiences alike, and became the highest grossing low-budget film in the year.

TECHNICAL DATA

Director: Nagesh Kukunoor
Producer: Subhash Ghai
Cinematography: Sudeep Chatterjee
Script: Nagesh Kukunoor
Editors: Sanjib Datta
Music: Salim-Suleiman, Sukhwinder Singh
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Shreyas Talpade, Shweta Prasad, Yatin Karyekar
Runtime : 132 min. Color. Language: hindi. Subtitles: Spanish.

DIRECTOR

Nagesh was born in Hyderaban, Andhra Pradesh in 1967. His parents sent him off to be schooled at Montfort Anglo-Indian school where he started to watching Hindi and Hollywood films. After that, he went back home and finished Chemical Engineering at the Osmania University. Next, he moved to Atlanta and got a master´s degree in Chemical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. When he was graduated, Nagesh worked as an environmental consultant in Atlanta, Georgia. He realized that he hanker to work in the cinema universe and he studied acting at the Warehouse Actor´s Theatre in Atlanta. In this way, in 1994 directed his firs short film, One Culture at a Time. In 1998 when he get money working like consultant again he returned to India to pursue his dream of filmmaking.

Kukunoor invested the money he made from his engineering career in USA in producing his first movie Hiderabad Blues. A story of a man who returns to India and has to re-adapt to the culture. Nagesh directed and acted in the movie and it became the most successful independent film in India and it won the Audience Award for Best Film at the Peachtree Internacional Film Festival in Atlanta and the Audience Award for Best Film at the Rhode Island Film Festival.

After the success of his first movie, he went on to work with well-know actors and experimented in several genres. Following these rules, Rockford (1999) and Bollywood Calling (2001), a satirical look at the Bollywood industry through the eyes of a failed Hollywood actor, were his next films. Keeping with his earlier style he made 3 Deewarein (2003). The movie won the Filmfare Best Stoy Award. Nagesh made a sequel to Hyderabad Blues but it was not successful. He has to wait until his successful film Iqbal to won a lot of awards and critical acclaim. It was a cricket based movie told the story of a deaf-mute boy. After Dor (2006), screened at film festivals, and Bombay to Bangkok (2008) have been his last films. Nowadays, he has two movies set to release in 2009 (8x10 Tasveer and Aashayein).