It will be almost a month by next week since Amit Ravindernath Sharma’s film Maidaan was released in the theatres, but people’s enthusiasm to see the movie on the big screen has not really petered out. Despite knowing the result, the suspense regarding the game, the cheering for the players and the feeling of fraternity for the Indian national football team is very much visible among the audience at its ongoing screening in various cinema halls across the nation. To witness this by himself, Calcutta boy Amartya Ray, who portrays Chuni Goswami in the film, flew down to his city from Bombay recently. Not only did he visit the theatre but also had a rendezvous with Basanti Goswami, wife of Chuni Goswami, at their home in Calcutta on April 30, the celebrated player’s death anniversary. Still in a sort of reverie with the response people had to his portrayal of the character, Amartya narrates the experiences to t2 exclusively over a phone call. Excerpts…

The Premiere Night

I attended the premiere in Bombay with my mother (Chaiti Ghoshal) and it was a very overwhelming experience. The response to the film and Chuni Goswami’s character made me go into a trance and I am still in that phase. I was crying after the film had ended and Javed Akhtar was in the same hall. He said, ‘Phaad diye ho! Goal maar diye ho aap!’ and shook my hand. Ranveer Singh’s father, Jagjit Singh Bhavnani, had come to watch it and picked out scenes from the film to praise my performance. My mother was quiet and just gave me a long hug.

The Release Day

The press review started coming in and my name was there in every paper on the day of the release. We went to a gathering at Amit Ravindernath Sharma’s house and he said that I did really well and hugged me. He said I will always be his film’s Chuni no matter what else I do... and until he gives me another role (laughs). Many people texted me. I read as many as I could. There was a girl who texted saying that she found hope after watching the Indian captain on screen. Many people started addressing me as Chuni Goswami. Gajraj Rao and Mihir Ahuja also praised my performance.

Amartya with the 1962 Asian Games gold medal

Bombay Hall Visit

My first hall visit in Bombay was at Gaiety Galaxy, an iconic local single screen. It was a crazy atmosphere there! People were cheering and clapping. We also did the Team India chant after the screening... a crowd outside the hall cheered for us. We did a special hall visit at Malad where 150 kids from an organisation had come to watch the film wearing jerseys. We entered when the screening was about to get over and they started saying, ‘Chuni Goswami is here’. Some of the parents had come and their eyes were also wet. They were pointing out the moves. The making of this film is beyond the box office. It touched history and will inspire people to dream. If tomorrow even one kid goes to play inspired by this film then our job is done.

Calcutta Hall Visit

In Calcutta, I went to watch the film with my family. They had seen the film before... they sported the Chuni Goswami jersey, No. 10 written on one side and Amartya on the other. They cried after watching the film! People suddenly recognised me and somebody from the audience said, ‘The Indian captain is with us’, and everyone wanted to click pictures. They all appreciated my free kick. My cousin had sent me a video of it from social media. I saw it go viral in front of my eyes. Now it has 2.5 million views.

Visiting Chuni Goswami’s Home

It was unplanned. It was his death anniversary on April 30, and coincidentally my day to meet them was also on April 30. When I was entering through the driveway, I was almost shivering. I could see his wife sitting across the corridor. She looked towards me and smiled. I was very close to my dida. She reminded me of her. As I entered the house, there was a trophy cabinet and a wall filled with Chuni Goswami’s pictures. I started crying. She said she loved me in the film and that she was reminded of her husband. I specifically remember the comment she made about me having the same eyes as him. She said: You have similar poetic eyes like him. But his cheeks were fuller and he used to have dimples. But yours is more chiselled. It felt surreal to be in the home of the real legend and in the presence of his wife. It was because of this film that I magically got to meet her. I was there for two-three hours and got to listen to different stories about him from his wife, son and daughter-in-law. He would place all the shoes in his house in a line and dribble in between them to practise his style of dribbling.

The two stories that I was fascinated to know from her about him were the Tottenham Hotspur story and his passion for other sports as well. The Hotspur debate is an iconic one among the urban people. People say he hadn’t received any offer but his wife confirmed that he did. He wanted to go but couldn’t go due to other circumstances. He could play seven different sports — football, cricket, table tennis, lawn tennis and others. Once he returned from a football match and immediately went to play cricket and scored a century the following day.

As we were chatting, Chuni Goswami’s son and daughter-in-law were showing me around. A moment that I will never forget was when his daughter-in-law brought out the gold medal of the 1962 Asian Games. It felt like I was in the presence of real history and asked her if I could touch it. She told me something very touching. She said, more than anyone I deserve to touch it. Just when she said it, something very uncanny happened. There was a power cut. I will never forget this moment. His wife told me that she doesn’t like to talk to anyone or meet anyone on April 30 but she said that meeting me on that day made her feel good.