Meet Vijay Barse, The man Who Inspired Amitabh Bachchan's Film 'Jhund'

Reel adaptations of real stories have always been delightful for the Indian audience. One such story is being brought to life by Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan. Amitabh Bachchan stars in 'Jhund,' in which he will reprise the role of Vijay Barse, the man who started Slum Soccer in India.

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The story of Jhund will revolve around a football coach from Nagpur, who will use sports to empower those with lesser means.

Who is Vijay?

Vijay came to notice when he appeared in one of the episodes of Aamir Khan hosted Satyameva Jayate.

During his appearance, he shared how when he was working as a sports teacher at Nagpur¡¯s Hislop College in the early 2000s, and he spotted a few kids as they were kicking around a broken bucket in the rain. He offered them a football and rest, as they say, it is history.

Vijay shared another anecdote of how he spotted kids kicking around a tennis ball.

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The realization that kids feel free and liberated when they are on the field is what inspired Vijay to build the nation¡¯s future.

During his stint on Satyamev Jayate, he said,

¡°I realized that these kids were away from bad habits as long as they were playing on the field. What else can a teacher give?¡± he said on Satyameva Jayate. After this, Zopadpatti Football, in 2002, eventually became famous as Slum Soccer. When he was asked why he named it Zopadpatti football, he said, ¡°I knew that all players came from living in zopadpatti/slums, and I have to work for them only, so I must continue this name.¡±

Do you know these matches are now being played on the city and district levels?

This is how Vijay revolutionized the concept of the Slum Soccer league. It became a national phenomenon as coaches and kids from all over the country wanted to get associated with it.

Initially, Vijay struggled with collecting funds as he had no sponsors, but he used his money; after his son, living in the US, read an article about this in an American newspaper, he decided to come back and help his father.

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In 2007, Slum Soccer¡¯s national tournament was also covered by BBC. Jhund, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rinku Rajguru is, has been helmed by Nagraj Manjule of Fandry and Sairat fame.

The film is receiving rave reviews from Bollywood. After Aamir Khan, Actor Dhanush has praised Amitabh Bachchan for his performance.

Dhanush was quoted by a T-series official Youtube channel saying, Dhanush is praising Amitabh Bachchan, the cast of Jhund and the film's director Nagraj Manjule.

"I don't know where to start. Mind-blown, simply mind-blown. Nagraj Manjule is a voice to be heard, a force to reckon with. I can say thousand technical things about this film that it's brilliant. It's about the emotion that triumphs over everything else. It is an experience that everybody should go through. It is a masterpiece, and this will make a lot of heads turn. I am thrilled to have watched this film," said Dhanush.

The film has hit the theatres today, i.e. March 4th.

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