GAME IS BOOKED

DEBESH BANERJEE

WHEN Kabir Khan’s motley team of girls won the imaginary World Championships in Chak De! India, there was a collective sigh of relief in the cinemas. But for one viewer, Mir Ranjan Negi, it was as though a moment of his life was blown up on the screen. Negi did not share Kabir Khan’s sexy bearded looks, but somewhere the pain matched. “Shah Rukh Khan acted exceptionally well, but I had actually lived out those sentiments,” says Negi.

There have been endless discussions on whether or not Negi’s life inspired the blockbuster, but this time he has decided to do the talking. The 50year-old former goalkeeper and coach is ready with his autobiography, From Gloom to Glory (Popular Prakshan). The origin of gloom is in the 1982 Asian Games. Negi was the goalkeeper of the Indian hockey team which was badgered 1-7 by Pakistan. The country wept — and then fumed against Negi for conceding the goals. Almost ostracised, Negi slunk away — but not quite. He redeemed his destiny 16 years later — when the men’s hockey team he coached won the gold in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. Four years later, the women’s team trained by him won the gold at the Commonwealth Games.

“I have no complaints about hockey. It gave me the worst days of my life but it also made me redeem my fate,” says Negi, going on to reminisce the two moments of agony and ecstasy. “I feel I could have done things differently. For instance, while step ping on the field for the match against Pakistan in 1982, froth was spilling from my mouth. I shouldn’t have played that day. Also, I had chances of slyly injuring the main Pakistani player, but hesitated. This might have cost us the game. I did not speak much after our loss against Pakistan since I was stopped by the hockey federation,” says Negi, “I felt vindicated only when the men’s hockey team won the gold at Bangkok.” From Gloom to Glory comprises a series of anecdotes and Negi’s diary entries after the 1982 games, but the book doesn’t begin there. It starts with a personal loss — the death of his eldest son Abhi in a motorcycle accident three years ago. And then he goes on to his brief Bollywood days when he became associated with the making of Chak De! India. “I was offered the project of Chak De! days after my son’s demise. I was in a dilemma whether to accept the offer or not. But after a little convincing I accepted it,” says Negi, who had finished the book well before Chak De! India happened. The draft was later tweaked to include the experience of working on the film. He writes: “Chak De! turned my life on its head. From relative anonymity I came under the arc lights.” Negi has hung up the boots though he put on the dancing shoes for a while for a season of Jhalak Dikhla Ja. The distress has returned, though, after watching the Olympics where India did not even qualify. “I wish glamour would come back to hockey, something like Twenty20.”