IM Vijayan biopic starring Nivin Pauly to start rolling next year

Reports about a sports biopic on former Indian footballer IM Vijayan has been doing the rounds for a long time now. Director Arun Gopy is confirmed to helm the movie and it is said that Nivin Pauly will be playing the lead in it. Arun Gopy is scripting the film jointly with sports journalist Padmakumar and they are planning to start shooting next year. According to the director, the project was supposed to materialize much earlier, but the release of ‘Captain’, forced the delay. ‘Captain’ starring Jayasurya was based on the life of late Indian footballer VP Sathyan.

IM Vijayan is unarguably one of the finest footballers to have represented India. Popularly known as the ‘kala hiran’ or ‘black pearl of India’, Vijayan was crowned Indian Player of the Year in 1993, 1997 and 1999. Starting from a humble background as a soda seller in football grounds, Vijayan eventually became the nation’s highest earning footballer of his time. His journey from rags to riches is a truly inspiring story and it deserves to be told on screen. It will be interesting to see how Nivin Pauly transforms himself for such a challenging film.

Meanwhile, IM Vijayan’s maiden production venture is also getting ready. Debutant Deepak Deon is directing the movie, which is also a football based flick titled as ‘Pandi Juniors’. Big Daddy Entertainment, owned by Vijayan and his friends Arun Thomas and Deepu Damodar is producing the movie.