Football fever grips Mollywood, stars hoot for their favorite teams

Kochi: A young man quit his highly-paid job at Infosys for an entry into films. He went around knocking on doors for opportunities. That was when he and his close friend happened to hear about the audition call for Vineeth Sreenivasan’s debut film, Malarvadi Arts Club. They decided to give it a shot. They played football every morning at the Aluva Municipal ground to keep fit for the audition. Lost in the intensity of one such practice session, the aspiring actor was tackled to the ground by a defender as he was trying to score and ended up breaking his leg. While taking time off to recover, he grew a beard and decided to retain it for the audition. Incidentally, the director wanted to cast a rough guy with a beard for the role of Prakashan in the film. Vineeth was impressed with what he saw and selected him for the role. Nivin Pauly is now one of the most promising young film stars of Mollywood. Not surprisingly, the actor considers football and his beard as his lucky mascots.

The 2014 FIFA World Cup has Nivin Pauly and his friends gripped by the football fever. The football crazy friends, who are famous as the Neram team, cannot wait to get to the TV to cheer their favorite teams. “In spite of busy schedules, we manage to meet up during the matches. Most of us are hardcore Argentina and Lionel Messi fans. Nivin and I support Argentina, but Sharaf supports Germany. The discussions on the matches and the predictions on the winners make us zealous,” says Wilson Jospeh.

Recollecting childhood memories, Wilson shares how Gabriel Batistuta and Maradona inspired him to dribble the ball. “My Pappa loved playing football and Argentina was his favorite team. Watching matches along with him is one of my best childhood memory. I played in school wearing my elder brother’s big size boots and mimicking the moves of my favorite stars,” he adds.

Sporty Rajeev Pillai is equally passionate about football and cricket. The actor, who follows various European leagues such as Spain’s La Liga as well as the English Premier League, shares, “In 1990, I watched my first World Cup match. I still remember how I rolled on the floor and cried when Argentina lost the finals to Germany,” he smiles. The actor fell in love with the game watching matches on television; he was a sought-after defender during college days. “My friends from engineering colleges used to make me play their college matches with fake ID cards. I also got selected for the university team, and that was when the cat came out of the bag!” he quips. Like the Neram team, Rajeev too wishes Argentina win all the matches they play!

“Anyone who thinks sunshine is happiness has never played football in the rain,” says soccer-crazy Sanju Sivram, who has amazing childhood memories of kicking the football in the rain. “My memories of football are connected with my hostel days. It was a battle of wits, dirt and skill on a slushy field. Staying up late night just to watch the match in the hostel TV room and winning predictions.” Like the other Malayalis, Sanju too gets a high on football during World Cup. “My favorite player is Arjen Robben, the fastest footballer. I wish Germany wins,” he says.

Growing up in football-frenzied Malabar, Midhun Manuel Thomas and Manu Manjith have an in-built spirit for soccer “Football is in our blood. We started kicking the ball even before we could remember. Since there were a lot of football tournaments to watch and play, we consider it as a part of our ancestry,” says a smiling Midhun. “From Batistuta and Maradona to Messi, we go for Argentina always,” he adds proudly.