Film/Stage
Break Away
by GURMUKH SINGH
Bollywood star Akshay Kumar is beginning his first foreign venture with the shooting of his ice-hockey-themed film, "Break Away", an English-Punjabi film that showcases the challenges faced by immigrants everywhere.
To be directed by Robert Lieberman, "Break Away" will have Toronto-born Vinay Virmani in the lead role. The cast also includes Punjani-origin comedian, Russell Peters.
Excerpts from the interview with Akshay Kumar:
Why does ice hockey form the backdrop of "Break Away"?
Toronto-born Vinay Virmani, who plays the lead role, also wrote the
script for the film. Since he has played ice hockey all his life, he has
woven this sport into the script nicely. I liked it very much as did
everybody else. So we decided to turn the story into a movie.
Remember that field hockey is very popular among Sikhs and Punjabis back
home in India, and I am told they equally love ice hockey when they
come here. So I thought they will find the same kind of excitement and
fun in ice hockey in my film. I am also told that the CBC (news website) offers running commentary in Punjabi on this sport.
And you will be surprised that ice hockey is even coming to India
as four ice rinks are being installed to promote this sport in the
country. So taking these factors into consideration, I thought it was
the right time to bring the concept of ice hockey into our films. I have
always loved sports, and most of my films centre around sports.
Tell us about the plot of the film.
It is a cross-cultural comedy. It is about struggles faced by immigrants to keep their family values intact. It is about people
who come all the way from Punjab, India, Sri Lanka or Pakistan to settle here and then struggle to retain their identity.
The story revolves around a Sikh immigrant family - how they cope with
cultural conflicts and adapt ice hockey to their new life in Canada. Unlike
other cross-cultural films, it will be quite unique and you will have to
wait to see it.
It deals with cross-cultural conflicts, but very light-heartedly. It is more of a comedy about cultural issues.
Will the film resonate with mainstream audiences?
"Break Away" will resonate with not only immigrant audiences, but also the mainstream because Canada
is the biggest multi-cultural society in the world today. All
immigrants go through the same struggles and conflicts when they come
here. Our film is as much about Sikh/ Punjabi and immigrant audiences as the mainstream.
Where are you shooting it?
All of our shooting will be done in Toronto. Vinay - the lead actor and
scriptwriter - has played all his ice hockey in this city. So the
action will begin here in a few weeks. I am sure that Toronto would not have seen anything like this before.
When will it be competed and released?
"Break Away" will be about one-hour and fifty minutes long. Hopefully,
we will complete it soon and it will be released next year in Canada,
India and elsewhere.
Will it be dubbed into other languages?
It is more of an English film, and Punjabi (dialogue) comes whenever it
is required. So basically, it is an English-Punjabi film and we have
not yet thought about its wholesale dubbing into Punjabi.
September 25, 2010
Conversation about this article
1: Kartar Singh (Fremont, California, U.S.A. ), September 26, 2010, 9:24 AM.
Nice synopsis for the coming movie. But if I may add one thing to this, there is just one slight error to this: Russell Peters is not of Punjabi origin but in fact he is of Bengali origin as his family is from Calcutta.