Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey and Ravichandran Ashwin talk about cricket docuseries ‘Bandon Mein Tha Dum’

Ravichandran Ashwin had not faced over 50 balls in Test cricket for over a year. His last half-century came four years ago. His back was so stiff he could neither sit down nor bend to tie his shoelaces. His wife later revealed that he was literally crawling on the floor.

Hanuma Vihari had one 30-plus score in his previous 10 Test innings. His place in the team was under the scanner. His right hamstring was injured. Even a minor movement came with a monumental struggle.

These two broken men were up against one of the best bowling attacks of all time in their backyard. They had to bat through over 40 overs to save a Test and keep alive their team’s chances of winning the series. Four more batters were to come. But three of them were hardly capable of the task. And, the capable one could not even peel a banana because of a broken thumb.

If this was a conventional sports drama, Ashwin and Vihari would have battled the pain and won the game for India. But a sporting contest is indifferent to such convenient narratives. There is drama but it is richer and far more complex than ones that are scripted. Because in sport, anything can happen.  

Yet, on a bright January evening that stretched the shadows on a spectator-less Sydney Cricket Ground last year, a fairytale unfolded. Ashwin and Vihari did not win the game for India. But, after batting, nah, battling for 258 balls, they drew the match, keeping India’s chances alive to win the series in Brisbane.

Time zones away, National Award-winning filmmaker Neeraj Pandey got a call. “This is a great story!” said a producer at the other end.

“No, the great story will happen when they win the fourth Test,” replied Neeraj impulsively.

Eight days later, it happened. India became the first side in three decades to beat Australia in Brisbane and win the series. They did that with a squad, wherein seven main players were injured. And they did that, after getting bowled out for a paltry 36 in the second innings of the first Test.

Neeraj’s four-episode docuseries, Bandon Mein Tha Dum, which will stream on Voot from June 16, attempts to narrate this epic triumph.

The win, over the last one and a half years, has been dissected more than a lab specimen. For the perenially story-hungry cricket media, this series was a beanfeast. Every little story that hid in the dark corners, it seemed, was hunted down and told

Neeraj, however, insists his retelling will be fresh. “We all know what happened. But not all of us know how it happened or why it happened. This docuseries is about answering those two things,” he says after launching the trailer in Mumbai.

Ravichander Ashwin in the docuseries
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Collective effort

Ashwin, who features in the docuseries, agrees. He had already shared some of the interesting dressing room stories on his YouTube channel during the series. The docuseries, he says, will offer more perspectives and some lesser-heard stories. He mentions one during the trailer launch. “We got all out for 36, lost the Test in Adelaide. We, then, put up a fight to win in Melbourne. Next stop was Sydney. But on our way there, we got caught in a thunder-shower. The flight seemed to go in different directions. We might not have landed in Syndey at all. I thought to myself, ‘Maybe this is our destiny.’”

Getting all the footages, conducting interviews across continents, and putting them all together during pandemic was a logistical nightmare, adds Neeraj, who had previously directed the M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story biopic.

Vihari, Ajinkya Rahane (who skippered three of the four Tests), Rishabh Pant, Mohammed Siraj, and Cheteshwar Pujara are the other Indian cricketers who feature in Bandon Mein Tha Dum. Their counterparts, Tim Paine and Pat Cummins, do too. “Documentaries are supposed to be unbiased. That’s the reason the Australian perspective is very important for us,” adds Neeraj, “If it were just the Indians were talking about this, maybe I would have not been that interested in telling the story.” 

Neeraj is not a novice in narrating cricket stories. Six years ago, he made M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story with Sushant Singh Rajput. But a documentary, which he is making for the first time, posed different challenges compared to a film. The story, for instance, was already there. In fact, there were too many stories. “We had tons of footages to sift through. In such a project, the editing part becomes more important for a director,” he says

Rags to riches

Ashwin, who is a film buff, says Indian sports dramas can go beyond the usual rags to riches template. “Look at Dangal, for instance. It talks about two athletes from the hinterlands of India who made it big. I loved the film. And, this theme definitely sells. But sports films need not just be about the success stories. There is more to sport and sportspersons. We could, for instance, explore the mental side of things.”

One of the recent sports films that impressed Ashwin was Jayprad Desai’s Kaun Pravin Tambe? “There was some masala added to the film. But I loved the authentic portrayal of a cricketer from middle-class Bombay. I’ve had relatives in such houses. So, it was more relatable. If it had been a series, we could have dwelled deeper and learnt more about the life of such a cricketer. Because OTT is now more popular, you will find more people to watch such a show.”

Bandon Mein Tha Dum, he hopes, will be among the many Indian sports series in the near future.