And it’s Bhushan Kumar who saves the day! The T-Series head honcho, who has been giving a new lease of life to several beleaguered projects, has now come to the rescue of Jhund. Jhund is the Hindi film directorial debut of filmmaker Nagraj Manjule, who had directed the National award-winning Sairat. There had been much excitement about Manjule convincing Amitabh Bachchan to come on board for Jhund. However, the project was hit by multiple delays, leading to a peeved Bachchan pulling out of the film.

Jhund appeared lost till Bhushan Kumar stepped in to produce the film and revive the project. The script deeply appealed to him and he decided to come on board. What’s more, he also set about persuading Bachchan to return aboard. His convincing paid off and now Jhund has its leading man back!

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A clearly satisfied Bhushan shared that he was glad the project would take off soon and he would get another opportunity to work with the legendary Bachchan. The two had earlier worked together on Nitesh Tiwari’s Bhoothnath Returns. Says Bhushan, “When (filmmaker) Savita Hiremath got the script to me and I saw Nagraj’s dedication to the subject, it made me want to back it. The subject is very good.” Jhund will be produced by Bhushan along with Manjule, and Savita and Raaj Hiremath.

Apparently, Nagraj has begun work on the pre-production and fresh dates will be acquired from Amitabh Bachchan. The film will see Bachchan play a retired sports teacher who starts a slum soccer movement. Last year, Amitabh Bachchan had confirmed that he would begin shooting for Jhund in October. The film is a biopic of Vijay Barse, a retired school teacher from Pune who set up the Slum Soccer programme to train underprivileged children in football.

The film is bound to be an inspiring watch. Slum Soccer not only uses football to engage with children but also supplement their education and impart social messages like sanitation, life skills and gender equality.