Dhrubo Banerjee’s sports drama Golondaaj locked for October 10 release

The film is set in the British Raj and revolves around the trials and tribulations of Indian footballer Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari, widely considered to be the father of Indian football, as he gets his team together to play and beat the Britishers in their own game.

 Bengali superstar Dev, who plays Nagendra Prasad Sarbadhikari took to Twitter in February this year to share how physically gruelling the shooting experience was for him.

Anirban Bhattacharya will heighten the nationalist pulse of the narrative through his role which is yet to be revealed. Ishaa Saha, who was last seen on the big screen in Banerjee’s Durgeshgorer Guptodhon, essays Kamalini, the princess of Sovabazar, wife of Nagendra, and his rock-solid companion throughout. Indrashish Roy plays Jeetendra, a nationalist rooted to his soil and opposed to the British, while American actor Alexx O’ Nell plays the main antagonist. 

The taut, high octane teaser of the film dropped on April 15 on YouTube and is reminiscent of the landmark pre-independence sports drama Lagaan. And when Dev says, “This is my soil. This is my country. I will defeat you in your own game,” you know you are in for an engaging period drama that is high on nationalist fervour and patriotism.

The second schedule of the shoot that was slated for end of March to early April had to be halted due to the pandemic situation. The team chose to wait it out until December to start the second leg, given that Golandaaj is touted to be one of the biggest projects in terms of both budget and scale this year and has many outdoor scenes.