Gold director Reema Kagti and producer Ritesh Sidhwani go a long way back, they have been working together on films since 2001 and their association began with Dil Chahta Hai, Ritesh’s first film as the producer. Reema was an assistant director then. Now, they are all set to bring to screens an inspiring and motivation film on hockey called Gold that stars Akshay Kumar, Mouni Roy, Vineet Singh, Amit Sadh, Sunny Kaushal and Kunal Kapoor in the lead roles. Talking to a leading daily, Reema said that the film is based between 1936 and 1948 a period known as the golden period of Indian hockey but is a fictional account of a real incident.

This was the same phase when legendary hockey player Dhyan Chand wielded the stick and made a mark on the world map. However, Reema reveals that the hockey legend has definitely influenced the film but is not a direct part of Gold. Talking to the leading daily she said, “This is a fictional account of a real incident, so there are several characters inspired by real-life people and some characters are a combination of two. All Indian hockey legends inspired us while making this film. For me, the defining aspect of this story was finding a link between the years ’36 and ’48.”

RECOMMENDED READ: Watch: When Akshay Kumar pranked Mouni Roy on the sets of Gold posing as a reporter

She further stated, “I remember reading an article about a young junior manager who had waved the Indian National Congress’ flag at a hockey match, which at the time was banned by the British. But, the Indian team actually saluted that flag in the most discreet manner. When I started hunting for more information on him in the annals of Indian sports history, he turned out to be the manager of the Indian hockey team in 1948. He was a Bengali gentleman and his story strongly influenced our movie.”

Ritesh, on the other hand, showered praise on Reema’s craft and vision and said that it’s very hard to do justice to every person’s story as Indian hockey had many key figures and players. Talking about Dhyan Chand he said, “There’s a reason why you can’t focus on Dhyan Chand because then, you need to focus only on him. What Reema has smartly done in ‘Gold’ is that she had taken the major events that that transpired in those 12 years leading up to India’s gold medal. So, we had moments like the first gold as an independent nation and our flag being hoisted on foreign soil for the first time.”