Interview: Steve Darby instructs Actors in a Bollywood Movie
Stephen David Darby, better known as Steve Darby, is best known as a television pundit for ESPN-Star Sports besides having coached Mohun Bagan AC last year for a few months. Now Steve is involved in an interesting Bollywood film project, where he is teaching actors to play football. Though Steve Darby is not allowed to name the film and disclose any further details he did speak to me on how it is to work with actors and compared it to coaching footballers.
Simply how did come about?
I was approached by the CEO of a company who have the sub-contract for the coordinating and directing the sports action for an upcoming Bollywood film (confidentiality clauses don't allow the film, its content or actors to be named). They are a great company that specializes in making sports in films look 'real' as well as dramatic and exciting. Which is not easy as most actors are great at acting but often have no sporting experience. Though a few I-League players could well have a Bollywood career!
They approached me as I had coached in India and also had television experience with ESPN so I understood the mechanics of filming. Which in this case is many hours of filming for a few minutes screen time.
How difficult is it to coach actors for you?
Its more difficult to Coach here than with Professionals. If I ask Sunil Chetri to hit a space 30m away he will do it first time, in this case it may never happen as the actor has never played. But they do work hard and want to do a good job. That is where my job comes in. I just try to give them the training they need to be successful and to make for some exciting and lasting sports moments for the film.
The football stars/actors in this film are useful footballers who are working very hard to make the scenes go well. They are very busy shooting nearly every day and then working on football skills on days off and even sometimes after a full day of filming. They are putting in very long hours; longer hours than the I-League players. It's important that they slow down sometimes and don't get injured. Maybe in 10 years they'll be Bollywood legends? That's what they are want, they are very driven young men. Though I found the Indian Mohun Bagan players to be the same, they worked hard and wanted to succeed and learn.
How is this work compared to coaching a football team?
Well coaching Mohun Bagan was quite a soap opera! So maybe not that different? But in reality it's totally different, a completely different set of coaching skills and management techniques are needed. Working in India helped as I also had some knowledge of Indian films.
So are you interested in Indian films? In Bollywood?
I had watched many Indian films, but my favourite was Bandit Queen. But I also enjoyed Lagaan and My name is Khan. My favourite actors are Aishwarya Rai and Kareena Kapoor for obvious reasons, and I admire Shahrukh Khan for the way he has risen to stardom from outside the Bollywood family and also appears to not take himself too seriously!
Being able to talk to the actors about films such as GOAL also helped break the ice with them, though I told them not to expect Bipasha Basu to be on this set!
So basically I have to have greater patience and look for more technical details in coaching, literally in some cases where the non-kicking foot is placed or where the head is. Something that isn't needed with professionals.
Simply how did come about?
I was approached by the CEO of a company who have the sub-contract for the coordinating and directing the sports action for an upcoming Bollywood film (confidentiality clauses don't allow the film, its content or actors to be named). They are a great company that specializes in making sports in films look 'real' as well as dramatic and exciting. Which is not easy as most actors are great at acting but often have no sporting experience. Though a few I-League players could well have a Bollywood career!
They approached me as I had coached in India and also had television experience with ESPN so I understood the mechanics of filming. Which in this case is many hours of filming for a few minutes screen time.
How difficult is it to coach actors for you?
Its more difficult to Coach here than with Professionals. If I ask Sunil Chetri to hit a space 30m away he will do it first time, in this case it may never happen as the actor has never played. But they do work hard and want to do a good job. That is where my job comes in. I just try to give them the training they need to be successful and to make for some exciting and lasting sports moments for the film.
The football stars/actors in this film are useful footballers who are working very hard to make the scenes go well. They are very busy shooting nearly every day and then working on football skills on days off and even sometimes after a full day of filming. They are putting in very long hours; longer hours than the I-League players. It's important that they slow down sometimes and don't get injured. Maybe in 10 years they'll be Bollywood legends? That's what they are want, they are very driven young men. Though I found the Indian Mohun Bagan players to be the same, they worked hard and wanted to succeed and learn.
How is this work compared to coaching a football team?
Well coaching Mohun Bagan was quite a soap opera! So maybe not that different? But in reality it's totally different, a completely different set of coaching skills and management techniques are needed. Working in India helped as I also had some knowledge of Indian films.
So are you interested in Indian films? In Bollywood?
I had watched many Indian films, but my favourite was Bandit Queen. But I also enjoyed Lagaan and My name is Khan. My favourite actors are Aishwarya Rai and Kareena Kapoor for obvious reasons, and I admire Shahrukh Khan for the way he has risen to stardom from outside the Bollywood family and also appears to not take himself too seriously!
Being able to talk to the actors about films such as GOAL also helped break the ice with them, though I told them not to expect Bipasha Basu to be on this set!
So basically I have to have greater patience and look for more technical details in coaching, literally in some cases where the non-kicking foot is placed or where the head is. Something that isn't needed with professionals.
Category Article Bollywood, Mohun Bagan AC, Steve Darby
