Kapil says no ill will
against Manoj Prabhakar

Onkar Singh

Former India cricket captain Kapil Dev refused to dub Manoj Prabhakar as the villain for his forthcoming film-cum-television serial, entitled 'Kapil Dev, The True Story'.

Addressing a crowded press conference in Delhi on Tuesday, his first in the last year-and-a-half, Kapil talked more about the film than matters relating to cricket, particularly the allegations of match-fixing, levelled against him by former Test all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar.

In fact, during his hour-long meet with the press, he answered only those questions which were convenient for him and ducked the rest as he would while facing a bouncer. Which prompted a scribe, who hurled several 'bouncers' at him, to say: "He is a shrewd businessman, because if he answers the questions who will see his film."

Excerpts:

Why have you decided to do this film?

My friends, Anurag Kashyap of Shool and Satya fame, and Shailendra have been discussing this idea with me for over a month and, finally, we decided that we should go ahead and tell everything in this film.

What's going to be the tentative cost of the film, and who will play Kapil Dev? And... no film is complete without a bad man; who is going to play this role?

The cost of the film will be around Rs 4-5 crore [40-50 million] and it would be ready by October 2002. The film will be available both in film as well as mega serial forms. As far as the villain is concerned, I don't have to say much on this. There are films which are without a villain as well. As far as the role of Kapil Dev is concerned, I would not let anyone do it, except the dancing sequences which would be done by someone else.

Will Manoj Prabhakar get a role in your film?

Manoj has played cricket with me for close to a decade and I would not say bad things about him. I am not a religious man but I would go to the temple and pray for him. I would say 'God, give Manoj Prabhakar little more brains'.

Who is going to direct your film?

We are talking to a number of top directors of the film industry. No name has been finalised as yet. The moment we finalise a name we will get back to you.

In the last one-and-a-half years you underwent a lot of trauma. There were allegations made against you by Manoj Prabhakar, that you offered him Rs 25 lakh [2.5 million] to throw a match. Will this be part of your film?

This is only ten per cent of my entire life. The rest 90 per cent consists of my cricketing career and how I worked hard to achieve what I did as a cricketer. Don't you want that the people should see what I went through and know all the details about my life? Of course, we will deal with this topic also.

Will Ajay Jadeja, Mohammad Azaharuddin and Hansie Cronje also feature in the film?

I have no say in this matter. What will come in the script would be decided by Anurag Kashyap. (Anurag interrupts to say that he has no plans to include Jadeja and Azhar ).

Yesterday [Monday] the match referee, Mike Denness, penalised Sachin Tendulkar for tampering with the ball. Do you think Sachin would do such a thing?

Since I was not there on the field, or did not see it on television, it would not be fair for me to comment on this matter. The team management would be in a better position to answer this question.

Sometime back you had said you would have nothing to do with the game and now you have accepted the offer from the BCCI to train Indian fast bowlers. Why?

How could I ever say that I would have nothing to do with the game of cricket. Cricket is my first love and would continue to be so in future. As regards my decision to accept the offer from the BCCI to train young Indian fast bowlers, let me tell you that when BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya called me to Kolkotta I had no clue what he wanted to discuss. I had given the BCCI a business proposal and I thought that the meeting was in regard to that. But when the BCCI president said he wanted me to take over the responsibility to train the Indian fast bowlers who were getting injured frequently I said yes to his offer and that is how I come into the cricketing picture.

Are you coming back as the coach of the Indian team?

No

Do you think the idea of having foreign coaches will succeed?

This is an experiment; let the BCCI try this. If it brings good results for the country it is well and good.

Who are the cricketers who stood by you through your difficult time?

You got to wait till the film is released next year. I will not only name those who stood by me but also tell you about those who would not even talk to me on phone.

When did the board tell you that your name has been cleared by K Madhavan?

I came to know about it through the newspapers first and later from the board. I was abroad when the newspapers carried reports about clearance of my name.

Does match-fixing still go on?

I will answer this question in the film; not before.

Till few days back you were saying that you would not come back to cricket. What made you to change your decision overnight?

After remaining single for 30 years, a man can decide he will get married as soon as possible. This kind of decision is indeed taken overnight.