John Abraham’s football drama 1911 to go on floors by end of next year

John Abraham’s period sports drama, 1911, will go on floors by end-2020. Directed by Nikkhil Advani, the film is based on the historic match between Mohan Bagan football club and the East Yorkshire Regiment in 1911. Fronted by an inexperienced team of eleven, all playing barefoot, Mohan Bagan had walked away with the prestigious IFA Shield with a 2-1 final score against the British. The match held historical significance for inspiring a wave of nationalistic pride across the nation. 

“It is one event that ignited the freedom movement in India. It’s a script that John and his team have been working for the last five years. I believe Shoojit (Sircar) was going it direct it, but it didn’t work out between John and him,” Nikkhil said. Notably, Nikkhil and John recently collaborated on Batla House. 

Sharing his excitement for the project, the director added, “I love the idea and the period. It’s a patriotic story of 11 men who did not realise how they were energising an entire country to take up a movement that led to the freedom of India in 1947.”