" Why did I ever play this game," he would ask himself, avoiding public glare, rendered helpless at being vilified for a loss. How could an individual be savaged for a defeat, and not the other 10 on the same turf? Was hockey not a team game?
Well if the above makes you think that we are talking about 'Kabir Khan' ( Shah Rukh Khan) of 'Chakde! India' , think again! it is about Mir Ranjan Negi, for whome life had become a nightmare. The 7-1 defeat at the hands of Pakistan in the 1982 Asian Games final had brought unprecedented humiliation for India in a sporting arena. The nation went into a mourning and Negi into hiding.
Negi was accused in some quarters of having conceded those goals. In truth, the failure was collective. His team-mates stood by him but then they hardly mattered. He quit the game. He had no choice really. He was not spared at his wedding too, unruly elements disconnecting the power supply to the venue!
He returned to the hockey field, most grudgingly, 16 years later as a goalkeeping coach. India won the 1998 Asian Games gold at Bangkok, but the joy was short-lived as Negi, along with six players and the chief coach, was sacked by an ungrateful federation.
The affable Negi now shifted to train the girls, won the Commonwealth Games gold in 2002, again contributing as a goalkeeping coach. Two years later, fate dealt a cruel blow. His 19-year-old son, Abhiranjan, died in a road accident.
Negi quit coaching too. He was lost to the world of hockey. Out of this struggle a story was born, the script woven around Negi’s inspiring comeback, a stirring saga that assumed the form of a movie with Shah Rukh Khan living the role on the big screen, much to the delight of the hockey fraternity.