Bollywood to give hockey hero Prithipal Singh his due

NEW DELHI: He was the deadliest penalty corner specialist of his generation. Prithipal Singh’s steely wrists slammed an astounding 22 goals helping India claim three Olympic medals: silver (Rome, 1960), gold (Tokyo, 1964) and bronze (Mexico City, 1968). Later employed as deputy director for youth welfare in Punjab Agricultural University, he was gunned down by his students in 1983.
Now a feature film based on his chequered life, Prithipal Singh ... a story, is ready for nationwide release early next year. “He is one of the heroes of Indian hockey. But even diehard fans have forgotten his contribution to the game. Hopefully the movie will introduce him to a new generation of sports lovers,” says his daughter Jaspreet Kaur.
Bollywood is courting sporting biopics these days. In recent times, films such as Paan Singh Tomar, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and, more recently, Mary Kom hit the bull’s eye. Similar ventures on the life and times of MS Dhoni and hockey legend Dhyanchand are in the works.
Nonetheless, making a film on a barely remembered sporting great isn’t easy. “When we started working on the film, hardly any information on Prithipal Singh was available. We researched intensively, including talking to other Olympians of the time, to ferret out facts about his life. Telling an authentic story, without embellishing it, was the real challenge,” says debutant director Babita Puri, the first woman to direct a Bollywood sporting biopic. The film will be first shown at All Sports Los Angeles film festival next month.
Prithipal was first-hand witness to both triumph and tragedy in Indian hockey. In Rome, India lost for the first time in Olympics. Tokyo saw redemption. But Mexico City marked its lowest point where the team finished third. Strangely, the hockey federation had named two captains, Prithipal and fellow full-back Gurbux, thereby creating a negative environment in the team. “The movie also examines this controversial phase in Indian hockey,” says executive producer and co-screenplay writer Sandeep Mishra.
Among the finest exponents of short corner conversions produced by India, Prithipal fired home 10 penalty corners (some records show 11) in Tokyo. Two of those goals came in the semi-final against Australia. “Pargat Singh once told me that fans remember Surjit Singh, MP Singh and him as experts of the craft. But most have forgotten how deadly Prithipal was,” says Mishra, a sports journalist who has just completed a biography of Prithipal.
Former Olympian Charanjit Singh also admires his work as a defender. “He was a very dependable full-back. His tackling was always accurate,” says Charanjit, who captained India to gold in 1964.
A post-graduate in agriculture, Prithipal worked for Punjab Police as well as Indian Railways. Later, he became deputy director for youth welfare in PAU, Ludhiana. “There were two warring groups of students in the campus. Prithipal got dragged into the conflict and was shot by one group,” says Mishra. The death, he says, had nothing to do with militancy which had rocked Punjab in the 1980s. But it is possible to argue that the culture of violence that terrorism generated could have caused the campus bloodshed.
The film starring actor Vikas Kumar (of CID fame) in the lead role and shot in Chandigarh was made on a frugal budget of Rs 1 crore. But one hopes it is enough to bring a blotted out hero back to life.