Jungle Cry – A true story of 12 underprivileged boys from Odisha’s tribal belt conquering the world of rugby  

It was one-and-a-half decades ago when 12 boys from the tribal area of Odisha went on to rule the world in a lesser known sport in India.  

In India, at that time, the sport of rugby existed only in big metros like Kolkota & Mumbai, and was mainly played in the rich and famous clubs. It was introduced at Kalinga Institute of Social Science (KISS), Bhubaneswar – a free residential educational institute for tribals run by Achyuta Samanta – in 2006. And by September 2007, the tribal boys from the institute were the world champions.  

Based on the true story of 2007 triumph ­­– from the tribal kids having the first brush with the sport to landing in a different world, London, to making the country proud – a Bollywood movie starring Abhay Deol, Jungle Cry, is releasing in Europe and the Middle East on May 20 and in OTT platform in June.   

The movie directed by Sagar Ballary was filmed in London and the Indian part was shoot at the KISS, an institute instrumental in preparing the 2007 world cup winning team.

A former British diplomat Paul Walsh, who left his job to empower underprivileged kids in India, gave a demonstration of rugby at KISS, Bhubaneswar, in 2006. In January 2007, he again visited the campus and informed the institute authorities about the U-14 World Cup taking place in London in September.    

“Paul Walsh told us about the under-14 World Cup taking place in London. At that time hardly any u-14 kids use to play the sport in India, so we got the responsibility to prepare the team from scratch. And as they say, rest is history,” says coach Rudrakesh Jena, who is currently working as an assistant director of sports at KISS. His role is portrayed by Abhay Deol in the movie. “This (referring to the movie Jungle Cry) is the biggest recognition we can have for our achievement and the world will come to know about the hardships of these tribal boys.”

To be continued...