The Indo-British sports drama A Game of Two Halves starring 12th Fail actor Harish Khanna deals with modern-day issues about relationships, poverty, class struggles, and finding your place in the world. Directed by British Asian filmmaker Khayam Khan, the film also delves into themes of identity crisis, racial dissonance, acceptance, and coming-of-age in multicultural Britain.
Speaking about what sets A Game of Two Halves apart from other sports drama films, he says, “The thing that sets the film apart from other sports, romance or coming of age films is that A Game of Two Halves is all of those in one film. Ultimately, it is the universal story of finding the true meaning of what life is and that you actually grow more as a person when you give to others. This is a story about doing the ‘Right Thing’ – Sanjay a UK university student ends up in Hyderabad India teaching poor kids to play football. Through his interactions with his friends in the UK, the school principal Khadeem, and football lover Harnidth in India, Sanjay begins to question his life choices.”
Shredding light on the subject of the identity crisis this film deals with, Khayam states, “We have all been in situations when we think we know how we feel about people and ignore what is in under our noses. Sanjay is shallow and thinks he is in love with Shreya. His childhood friend Mia helps him to see the truth. The character starts with ‘what in it for me’ and ends with understanding the nature of helping others and the important things in life.”
Talking about the film’s distinctive element, he further adds, “If you are looking for a film that deals with modern-day issues about relationships, poverty, class struggles, finding your place in the world. Football and ultimately leaves you feeling happy and on cloud 9 then this is the film for you.”
Sharing about the challenges he overcame as a debutant director, he mentioned, “Having directed many plays, I am used to storytelling. The biggest challenge was adjusting to not what the eye sees but what the camera picks up. The subtlety of what is in the shot and the detail that it needs. Being given a monitor round my neck I could see what the camera was seeing and could focus on my vision of the story.”
The is set to hit cinemas in India, the UK, and North America on February 23, 2024.
