Bandon Mein Tha Dum: The IND vs AUS Test series was fought with blood, brains and brawn, says producer Sudip Tewari

Australia’s fortress — The Gabba — was finally breached by none other than an Indian team, that did not even play all its top players. It took 32 years and 2 months, but as they say nothing is impossible and surely the series Down Under proved that India were not just an Underdog team and had it all to defeat the top Aussie side.

READ | Will keep on working hard to make a comeback to the Indian team : Ajinkya Rahane

When the side, under the leadership of Virat Kohli won a series in 2018-19, it was fun and exciting, but many deemed it lucky due to the absence of Steve Smith and David Warner. However, the side went on to do it again in 2020-21, with the Australian side fielding its top players.

After recording their lowest score in an innings in Test cricket with 36 runs all out and then going on and playing the rest of the series without their talismanic batsman and skipper, Virat Kohli, all felt it was quite easy for the host to win. But, the performances from Jasprit Bumrah and R Ashwin with the ball and a brilliant hundred from stand-in-captain, Ajinkya Rahane turned the table in India’s favour.

WATCH | Body blows endured during Gabba test against Australia motivated me to do better: Pujara

Now, a docu-series by filmmaker Neeraj Pandey, titled ‘Bandon Mein Tha Dum‘ depicts India’s historic Test series victory against Australia in 2021.

The non-fiction docu-series focuses on the challenges the Indian cricket team encountered as the players themselves spoke about the victory against Australia at their home ground.

Sudip Tewari, the founder of Boot Room Sports, a non-live sports media company solely focused on consumer and fan engagement in sports, spoke about the reason behind making this series and how the player was to talk to.

In an exclusive interview with DNA online, he answered some questions that will help fans know what to expect from the docu-series which will be released on June 16 on Voot Select.

– Your personal take on India’s victory Down Under?

It’s not only one of the most remarkable victories in the entire history of Test cricket but it’s also one of the top 10 comebacks in the entire history of team sports. The 2020/21 India Australia Test series was fought with blood, brains and brawn and it culminated in India’s stunning defeat of the world no. 1 Test side at their hallowed home turf of Gabba where they hadn’t lost a Test match for 32 years. 

The series was won by India in such a manner that it not only captured the imagination of the entire nation but also provided tremendous joy & relief to the cricketing and wider sporting community all over the world at a time when people were still trying to come to terms with the devastation Covid-19 had brought in their lives. 

The Indian team played exceptionally high-quality cricket and simultaneously redefined the concept of hard work, perseverance, determination & commitment, setting the highest standards of sportsmanship while breathing new life into the dying format of Test cricket. The human stories in this cricketing fairy tale elevated it beyond a cricketing audience and created huge euphoria across all segments of Indian society. 

READ | See you at the Gabba? ‘Well they saw and they conquered’, Twitter goes hysterical after India win

– How was it interacting with the Indian team boys

The Indian team players who have been interviewed in the documentary understood the importance of making this story. They spoke openly & in detail and from their heart. All of them are simple, down to earth & excellent human beings and it was a pleasure to interact with them. We share a great rapport with the Indian cricketers and their respective teams.

– The process and the idea of bringing back this nostalgic moment and why did you term the India-Australia series as so important as to make a documentary on it.

At Bootroom,  our simple goal is to tell inspiring sports stories that can help bring change. All the virtues of sports and all the life lessons that sports teach us have been embodied by the entire Indian team in an exemplary fashion in this series and we wanted to give our audiences a deep and insightful inside look into how it all happened and what all we can learn from our heroes and apply in our daily lives.

Secondly, the Indian National Cricket Team has given us so much joy, pride and inspiration over so many decades deserved a seminal piece of content to be made on its many achievements and at Bootroom, we wanted to celebrate this story and bring it to the people of the country. 

So we were very determined to do this story in a big manner, we were clear in our heads that we wanted to do this story as early as the end of the 3rd Test match when a conversation between me and our researcher Siddharth Monga led us to go to Neeraj and he validated the thought.

– Aside from the India-Australia series, any other series that comes to your mind?

The 1971 India tour of the West Indies and England. The 2001 Test India-Australia Border-Gavaskar series. Both of them are incredible stories. 

– Is the victory at the Thomas Cup also in the pipeline? 

The Indian men’s National Badminton Team’s Thomas Cup victory is a rare and incredible feat in international sports. Of the 30 Thomas Cup tournaments held from 1948–to 1949, only six countries have won the title. This shows how difficult it is to win it. And it is as dramatic a story as BMTD if not more. We will see if it is feasible.  

READ | Lakshya Sen to Srikanth Kidambi, meet Indian squad that won Thomas Cup 2022 final for first time

– Talk about the success of Kaun Pravin Tambe?

Our first project ‘Kaun Pravin Tambe?’ which is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, has been received well. We have been very encouraged by the positive reactions from our audiences & the feedback received from our partner Disney+ Hotstar. It reinstills our faith that we have a huge sports-loving audience and that a good story will find its way to reach the hearts of the Indian people. 

– What are the challenges in making biopics and documentaries, especially when it comes to players who are still so relevant?

Sports storytelling is unique, it requires single-minded dedication and a specific set of skills because it is intricate in its requirements of telling the story authentically and realistically, whether it is a biopic or a documentary. It requires the deft mix of a powerful script, all the relevant footage with VFX, in-depth research, and detailed interviews while never losing focus on a central premise around which the narrative is built.

The story has to be then bound together on edit, by combining relevant background score, voiceovers, text & sound effects, pictures & graphics etc., in a coherent manner. We are therefore continuing to build on our resourcefulness and bandwidth to do justice to this particular genre. And since we are sports dedicated as a media company, it gives us the right focus to find the right talent and keep working together in improving our craft.

READ | India vs Australia: Why is the Brisbane match called ‘The Gabba’ Test?

– Do you feel, just like cricket, other sports are slowly getting their recognition or do the players need to win medals to earn the same?

For the world to sit up and take notice, Indian sports beyond cricket have to perform at a world-class level and keep winning the biggest prizes, trophies and medals. Achievement is important but at the same time, we have to tell each and every story worth telling so that people fall more and more in love with our athletes & teams and support them with even greater fervour. 

A story like ‘Kaun Pravin Tambe?’ needs to be told so that lesser-known players or athletes are celebrated and people start rooting for the lesser known.

A story like Bandon Mein Tha Dum needs to be told so that we can start looking at the journeys of athletes and the why & how of it all happening. We need to know what the key contributors went through, what they think and feel, what were their ups and downs and the backstories behind the achievement of an individual or a team rather than only the outcome and finally get to know more about sports and its values in practice. 

– Do filmmakers need to rope in a known personality for a biopic to succeed?

No. Sports stories need to be particularly realistic and authentic. Therefore the right talent which fits the need of the story can look the part, and can actually play the sport, has to be among the most important reasons for selecting a personality. We are unbiased and very clear in this regard.

– What are your upcoming projects or what can the audience expect the next after Bandon Mein Tha Dum?

In our next phase of scaling up our business, we have multiple projects planned and they are in various stages of development. As mentioned earlier, these projects are across various sports, formats & sub-genres and some of them are international in nature and will have a cross-border appeal we are very excited by the way they are shaping up. The execution of the earlier projects has opened up quite a few collaboration opportunities and we will be announcing these soon. 

Overall, we want to do sports content in length, breadth and depth like never done before. We are working on a large slate of ideas: 

1) Across true stories (individual or team), fictional stories, women-centric stories, children-centric stories, youth-centric stories 

2) Across formats like digital films, theatrical films, documentary series, web series, talk shows 

3) Across sub-genres like sports comedy or sports crime  &  4) across other sports like boxing, wrestling, kabaddi, gymnastics, athletics, football, badminton, mountaineering etc. We want to showcase the power of the sports genre to all stakeholders and take sports storytelling forward.