Jhund starring Amitabh Bachchan has made a lot of noise since its release on March 4th. Biographical sports drama directed by Nagraj Manjule tells the story of football coach Vijay Barse who teaches the sport to children and youth living in the slums. The film received high praise from both critics and audiences. But what do you know about the story of the man who inspired Big B’s character – the real-life Vijay Bars? Well, don’t worry. We have you covered. Read on to find out about his extraordinary journey.
In 2014, Vijay Bars detailed his story on the first episode of the third season of Aamir Khan’s TV show Satyameva Jayate where he acted as a speaker. Bars shared that he was a PE teacher at Hislop College in Nagpur. One day in 2001, he saw several children from the slums playing in the rain and kicking a broken bucket. It was then that he gave them a soccer ball. On another occasion, he saw a group of children kicking a tennis ball. It was then that it dawned on Bars – while the children are in the fields, they do not have bad habits.
Following this realization, in 2002, Vijay Bars invited children from the slums to the playground, which became popular as Slum Soccer. He named the club Zopadpatti Football. In his Tedx talk, Bars stated, “I knew all the players lived in the zopadpatty/slums and I should only work for them, so I should keep that name.” In Slum Soccer, Bars focused on rehabilitating children from the slums as well as teaching them about football.
Slum Soccer continued to grow in size and became more and more popular over time. Matches were held at the city and district levels, as well as covered in the media. Once it so happened that the son of Vijay, who was at that time in the United States, came across an article about his father in an American newspaper. It was then that he returned from the United States to help his father in his case.
After his retirement, Vijay Bars founded Krida Vikas Sanstha Nagpur (KSVN) with 18 lakhs. It functioned as the umbrella organization for Slum Soccer and focused on hosting football tournaments and providing several opportunities to the underprivileged. Bars founded the organization with the help of his wife Ranjana Bars and son Abhijit Barse.
In 2007, the respected BBC covered the national slum football tournament. Following this, Bars was invited to Cape Town, South Africa, where he met none other than Nelson Mandela at the World Homeless Championship. Recalling his meeting with Mandela, Bars said, “I got the most recognition for my work on the day he raised his hand to me and said, ‘My son, you’re doing a great job.'”
In 2012, Vijay Bars was honored with the True Hero Award by Sachin Tendulkar for his tireless and dedicated work in identifying, empowering and developing football talent from underprivileged sections of society. In 2016, his NGO Slum Soccer was recognized with several awards such as the FIFA Diversity Award, the FICCI India Sports Award and the Manthan eNGO Award. In 2016, Vijay Bars was awarded the Nagbhushan Award.
Thus, this is a story about the perseverance and selfless contribution of Vijay Bars to the development of children from the slums.
Speaking about the film, Jund notes: Nagraj Popatrao Manjulefirst directed film in Hindi. The film was financed under the banners of T-Series, Tandav Films Entertainment and Aatpat.