Real Kashmir Football Club: 5 reasons to watch Manav Kaul and Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub's sports drama on OTT

It rarely happens when an actor gets the chance to manifest his homeland, his culture, the serene beauty of his birthplace, the people and their history through his work, and Manav Kaul got the chance twice this year with Netflix's Baramulla and SonyLIV's Real Kashmir Football Club! For the unversed, Kaul belongs from a Kashmiri Hindu Pandit family from Baramulla. Real Kashmir Football Club is a sports drama series coming to SonyLIV (accessible via OTTplay Premium) on December 9, 2025. Let's look at the reasons to watch the show.

Reasons to watch Real Kashmir Football Club

Underdog story inspired by true events

The series brings out the real story of Real Kashmir FC that was originated after the devastating flood in 2014, starting as a community effort by Shamim Mehraj and Sandeep Chattoo to keep the younger generation engaged. However, the full-fledged football team was formed in 2016 and rapidly rose to India's top-tier I-League by 2018. The journey of each footballers became a powerful symbol of hope and resilience in Kashmir. The storyline is highly underdog for highlighting the history of the conflict-ridden region and how the club reunited the diverse community people like Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs.

Story of unity and resilience

The series claims to explore how natural disaster and political turmoil tormented Kashmir, and how the football club, ignoring all, becomes the bridge between the fragmented communities in the valley. The series also will also follows how a Kashmiri Hindu Pandit and a Kashmiri Muslim joined hands to form the club and their determination to take it to the professional level from just a local team.

Stellar cast members

The sports drama features Manav Kaul as the Hindu Kashmiri businessman and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as the Muslim Kashmiri coach who join hands to push the FC to India's professional level. Meanwhile, Vishakha Singh, Adil Pala, Shahid Mushtaq, Khusshal Maggo, Shubhang Chaturvedi, Mark Bennington, Muazzam Bhat, Abhishant Rana, Shaheem Bhat, Saud Al Rasdid Para, Amandeep Thakur, Inran Farooq, Anmol Dhillon Thakeria and Afnan Fazli will be seen in pivotal roles.

Exceptional filmmakers and their talents

The SonyLIV series is co-directed by Mahesh Mathai and Rajesh Mapuskar. Both the filmmakers are known for their boundary-pushing works that might be underrated, but critically acclaimed. For instance, Mahesh Mathai showed his storytelling talent in Naseeruddin Shah's Bhopal Express (1999) and Linus Roache's Broken Thread (2007). On the other hand, Rajesh Mapushkar's talent helped him win a National Film Award for Ventilator (2018). He made directorial debut with Sharman Joshi's Ferrari Ki Sawaari (2012), later also gave Ajay Devgn's Rudra: The Edge of Darkness (2022).

The raw and real side of Kashmir

The series uses football as a lens to explore the deeper stories of the Kashmiri people and the vibrant and often overlooked beauty of the valley. Throughout each episode, Real Kashmir Football Club features the heavenly landscapes of nature that includes snow-capped mountains, lush green valleys and serene lakes. However, you will also get to see some unpleasant places of Kashmir too as the makers aimed to show the raw and real face of Kashmir which is stark contrast to media portryals.

Real Kashmir Football Club FAQs:

Q. Is Real Kashmir Football Club based on a true story?

A. Yes, Real Kashmir Football Club is based on a true story about a football club.

Q. When to watch Real Kashmir Football Club?

A. Real Kashmir Football Club will premiere on Sony LIV and OTTplay Premium on December 9, 2025.

Q. Who plays the lead in RKFC?

A. Real Kashmir Football Club features Tumhari Sullu and Wazir actor Manav Kaul alongside Zeeshan Ayyub.