Fair Game on the Pitch

The title is self-explanatory. The film follows fast bowler Jhulan Goswamy,the 27-year-old current captain of the Indian women’s cricket team,and Anjum Chopra,former India skipper,across five years to reveal how cricket in India is not just a monopoly of the boys. “I used to play cricket with my brothers at home. When I ventured out in my neighbourhood,the boys and people around greeted me with a mix of jest,surprise and disapproval. At times,I used to drag boys out of the field if they made fun of me or didn’t let me play,” laughs Goswamy. Her graduation from a harmless creature to a bona fide terror for precocious neighbourhood boys,actually decided her career. And her story is among the many that led Kalra to devote a documentary to the women in the sport.

When Kalra started shooting,he realised there was almost no background reading material. “There were just two books,which I have mentioned in the documentary. And there was no TV footage that captured dressing room moments,gallery reactions and post-match events. That is when I turned to Anjum Chopra who agreed to shoot the videos for me,” says Kalra. From pre-match nerves to post-match euphoria,Kalra realised that it was only fair that Chopra shoot aspects of the game she has lived herself. So,from a jittery newly-appointed skipper Goswamy talking about not getting sleep before leading a match against Pakistan to teammates secretly blessing a match-disrupting spell of rain,Chopra captured it all.

Kalra wove his narrative around Goswamy,who belongs to a small village 60 kilometres from Kolkata,her engagement with the sport,her association with Chopra who comes from an affluent,urban background,and the common stereotypes they fought. “I remember visiting Eden Gardens as a 12-year-old in 1997,when Anjum was playing for India. That was the day I told my father,I was going to be a cricketer,” recalls Goswamy. “When I finally debuted as a cricketer under Anjum’s leadership,I was surprised at how similar our stories were.”

“While I had feared that the cricketers might have a lot to complain about,I was amazed at how resilient they are. They don’t even have proper kits,but they are not deterred,” says Kalra,who has also come out with a coffee table book on women cricketers in India.

When Kalra travelled to Goswamy’s hometown while shooting the documentary,he was greeted by a bunch of her neighbours. “One of them said,‘ I knew she had talent when she used to bowl bouncers to the boys,who with their TV knowledge couldn’t even figure out what kind of a ball it was’,” says Kalra.