Filmmaker Nikkhil Advani Gives An Update On His Passion Project With John Abraham, 1911, That Depicts One Of The Iconic Stories Of Indian Football History-EXCLUSIVE
Filmmaker Nikkhil Advani talks about his passion project, 1911, with John Abraham that was announced in 2018 but hasn’t witnessed any much development since then
While the rest of the film industry is busy shooting for projects yet struggling to release them, filmmaker Nikkhil Advani has had a dynamic last one month. He first opened theatres nationwide with Akshay Kumar’s Bell Bottom, which he co-produced with Vashu Bhagnani. Within a week or so after that, he released his ambitious directorial web series, The Empire.
The effect of the show hadn’t yet withered off and Nikkhil returned as a director for another web series, Mumbai Diaries 26/11 on September 9. The medical drama set in the backdrop of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, features Konkona Sen Sharma, Mohit Raina, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Satyajeet Dubey, Natasha Bhardwaj and Mrunmayee Deshpande, and has been getting good reviews all around.
Nikkhil also has the shoot of his upcoming production with Rani Mukerji, Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway, going on in Estonia. The filmmaker is quite busy with all his projects. However, in 2018, Nikkhil had come on board a project with John Abraham and Bhushan Kumar, titled 1911. The film is a passion project for John and will bring to screen one of the most iconic football matches in Indian sports history that took place in 1911.
Although, there hasn’t been any development on the film since the announcement, ask Nikkhil for an update on it and he informs, “What happens with that film is that we keep writing it. We have written a draft and then we keep thinking about it. We wonder about how we can do it. Also, both of us are busy with other projects as well. He is doing Pathan and Ek Villain Returns as an actor while I am also busy with many projects as showrunner and producer. Now, what I feel is that we need to just basically set our minds in the frame that this is what we have to do next and then get on to it.”
1911 aims to narrate the story of the iconic Football tournament in 1911, IFA Shield, where the undermined Mohun Bagan football team created a huge upset by defeating the highly experienced and trained British professional footballers of the East Yorkshire Regiment in the final on July 29, 1911. The film was expected to go on the floors in November 2019, aiming for a mid-2020 release, but has faced several delays since then.
Image Source: SpotboyE Archives, Instagram/nikkhiladvani