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The time is now!

Yesteryear actress Padmini Kapila turns a producer with "90 Minutes"

HAVING A BALL Manoj Bajpai plays the role of a coach.

Some stars never fade away. Past their prime, they reinvent themselves. Something yesteryear actress Padmini Kapila is busy doing. More than three decades after Intezar, and a little over two decades since she served up Meetha Zeher, Padmini Kapila is making a comeback. No, not in a forgettable role like the one she etched out in Sunny Deol's Champion a few years ago. This time, she is behind the scene, loosening her purse strings to put together what is claimed to "India's first full-fledged sports film", 90 Minutes. Her director Iqbal Rizvi or Padmini herself, have not obviously heard of Hip Hip Hurray or the more recent Iqbal! Never mind. The film is being put together at a frenetic pace, and should be out before long.

Starring models-turned-actors Abhimanyu and Aditya with the seasoned Manoj Bajpai playing the coach, the film, informs Padmini, "is an emotional story revolving around football. It is the story of a football coach and how life gives him a second chance."

She claims, "Even FIFA is ready to support India. This film has come at the right time."

It might yet come at the right time, but it has certainly not been shot at the right places in the country, or beyond. It is a football film shot in Simla in Himachal Pradesh, a State with no football culture. And Malaysia, again a country with little to recommend on the sport circuit. "The costs of shooting in Goa or Kerala were prohibitive," says Padmini. "The infrastructure for film shooting was not there in Goa," Rizvi adds.

Padmini Kapila with Naveen Nischol in "Woh Main Nahin", one of her early films

Padmini though feels, No Minutes, will mark an important chapter in Indian sports filmmaking. "The director had the idea of this film for many years. I am producing the film because there is no better way of convey in inspiration than sports. It is a wonderful expression of self-belief."

Having learnt from her experience of making this film, Padmini wants to take one film at a time. And do it well. "It is my third film as a producer and I have used all my experience of acting and making films. I have made sure to make a serious film without compromising on the entertainment quotient. In a purely commercial film nothing is forced. We had difficulty in finding the right guys. Good-looking guys were bad at the game, those who were good at football were not so good looking! But we looked around, held a workshop and finally got the right actors."

But acting for this upcoming producer is not ruled out either. The lady who starred in Red Rose with Rajesh Khanna at one time, is "open to acting offers". Anybody ready to turn the clock back?

ZIYA US SALAM

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