''Gold: The Dream That United Our Nation'', or simply ''Gold'', is a 2018 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

-language period

sports film A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete (and their sport), or follower of sport (and the sp ...

written and directed by

Reema Kagti Reema Kagti (real name: Reema Kakati) is an Indian film director and screenwriter, who works in Bollywood. She made her debut as a director in the critically acclaimed ''Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.'' (2007), which was followed by the neo-noir, ...

and produced by

Farhan Akhtar Farhan Akhtar (born 9 January 1974) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, playback singer, producer, and television host who works in Hindi films. Born in Mumbai to screenwriters Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, he grew up under the influ ...

and Ritesh Sidhwani. The film stars an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast t ...

Akshay Kumar Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia (born 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian-born naturalised Canadian Quote: "(Former prime minister Stephen) Harper campaigned in 2011 alongside one of Modi's biggest celebrity backer ...

Mouni Roy Mouni Roy (born 28 September 1985) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films and Hindi television. She made her acting debut with ''Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'' (2006). Roy became one of the highest-paid Hindi television act ...

, Amit Sadh, Kunal Kapoor,

Vineet Kumar Singh Vineet Kumar Singh (born 28 August 1978) is an Indian actor and writer known for his strong portrayal of an aspiring boxer Shravan Kumar Singh in Mukkabaaz (2018). A M.D. in Ayurveda from Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur, Vineet ...

, Sunny Kaushal and

Nikita Dutta Nikita Dutta (born 13 November 1993) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films and Hindi television. As a finalist of Femina Miss India 2012, she made her acting and film debut with '' Lekar Hum Deewana Dil'' where she played a supportin ...

. ''Gold'' is based on the journey of India's first national hockey team to the 1948 Summer Olympics and follows Tapan Das, the man who won India its first gold medal in the same event. ''Gold'' was theatrically released on 15 August 2018 during India's

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

to universal critical acclaim. A major box office hit, the film grossed at the box office. ''Gold'' also became the first Bollywood film to be released in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...

. It was also released in Chinese theatres on 13 December 2019.

Plot

The story begins around the time of the

Berlin Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

in 1936, when the Indian team played the hockey finals against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. Despite the Germans attempting to play rough against the Indian team, the Indians start winning in the second half, when the team's assistant manager, Tapan Das (

), shows them the Indian Flag during the half time break. When the captain Samrat ( Kunal Kapoor) and team receive the gold medal, the

British National Anthem "God Save the King" is the national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, but ...

is played and the flag of British India is hoisted, but the Indian team promise themselves that they will win a Gold medal once again on behalf of their motherland, after India gets Independence. The subsequent Olympics are cancelled because of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. After the war, a drunk and spoiled Tapan roams and loses in several bets but sobers up when he gets the news that the next Olympics will be held in London in 1948. He holds aspirations of making India play hockey as a free country, coaching a novice hockey team to earn independent India's first

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics. Tapan now struggles to win his position as a joint manager of the team and promises to bring up best players from the new generation. He manages to convince Mr. Wadia, and goes out for his work back. He meets the former hockey captain Samrat, now retired, to lead to guide the team. But Samrat refuses and suggests teammate Imtiaz Ali Shah (

). Imtiaz, a great contributor of the 1936 Olympics along with Samrat, was a soldier for the

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a Collaboration with the Axis powers, collaborationist armed force formed by Indian collaborators and Imperial Japan on 1 September 1942 in Southeast Asia during Worl ...

. Tapan meets Imtiaz and they decide to continue their dream and oath to win the gold medal for an independent India. With Independence for India looming on the horizon, Tapan travels to different parts of India to scout for the best players for the team. Finally Tapan keeps his promise and creates the national hockey team, taking players from several regions. Among them are Thakur Raghubir Pratap Singh ( Amit Sadh) and Himmat Singh ( Sunny Kaushal), a pair of talented centre forwards from

Central India Central India is a loosely defined geographical region of India. There is no clear official definition and various ones may be used. One common definition consists of the states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which are included in alm ...

and

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. Meanwhile, India gets Independence, but is also partitioned into India and Pakistan. During a

riot A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property target ...

, Imtiaz gets injured when some Hindus and Sikhs tried to burn him alive, but is saved by Tapan and Himmat. They reach Imtiaz's house come hockey club, but to their disappointment, his house is burnt and destroyed. A heartbroken Imtiaz refuses to stay further in India and leaves for Lahore. A heartbroken Tapan narrates that along with the division of the country, their dreams and aspirations also broke apart. Half the team ends up playing for Pakistan, while a few others - mainly

Anglo-Indians Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The ''Oxford English ...

- move to Australia. Tapan decides to make it on his own, and brings up the team for practice at a small Buddhist School. The head monk of the

ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< Mouni Roy Mouni Roy (born 28 September 1985) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi films and Hindi television. She made her acting debut with ''Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'' (2006). Roy became one of the highest-paid Hindi television act ...

), also supports and helps him realize his dreams. The training begins but there is a lack of teamwork between the players due to several conflicts. Raghubir, who keeps on his pride, always tries himself to get over the hard working Himmat. On the other hand, Devang Chaturvedi is an efficient player with wit and wisdom. Tapan and Samrat finally teach the players a lesson of unity and conclude the training. Samrat makes Devang, the captain, Raghubir, the vice Captain and tells Tapan that Himmat is a hidden treasure to be used at the right time of the Olympics. Mr. Wadia, as a chairperson of the Hockey Council, becomes the Head Coach and Tapan is once again honoured as the assistant manager of the team. A jealous Mehta (

Atul Kale Atul Kale is an Indian actor, singer, musician and director. He directed ''Matichya Chuli'', '' De Dhakka'' and ''Shahanpan Dega Deva''. He has won MATA Sanman and Zee Gaurav awards for his singing, music direction, acting and directing. Early ...

) deceives Tapan by mixing some alcohol in his drink and an intoxicated Tapan behaves very badly in the party organized by the Hockey Council and is fired from his position, being replaced by Mehta. The team is now brought to the Olympic level in London by Mehta, But Mehta's usual ego and pride brings upon his bad image to the players when they complain against him. Mr. Wadia then sends for Tapan, and Tapan comes to London with the blessing of Mr. Wadia, who himself returned there from New York. The Olympics begin but Himmat is not allowed to play. India plays well to reach and win the semi-finals. But since he is not in the player list, Himmat thinks it is a conspiracy by Raghubir just to let him down. During a celebration, Himmat starts fighting with Raghubir and a conflict grows between them, which tarnishes Himmat's image. Devang and Raghubir try to explain to Himmat that it was Tapan who selected the player list for the game, but all in vain. Finally, in the semi-finals, Tapan has listed Himmat to play, but since other players had complained against his behaviour the previous night, Himmat is not allowed to play. Tapan explains the reason that in the league matches, the opponent players mark the good players, and in the semi-finals or finals, they have marked making it difficult for them to play well. Although India wins the semi-finals, it turns a hard match. In the finals, during the first half against Great Britain, Himmat is benched again,and Great Britain scores 2 goals. During half time in the Indian dressing room Tapan has a heated argument with Mehta about the need of Himmat's playing when Mehta refuses to change the team at the last minute. Tapan shows everyone the Indian Flag and tells them he has been carrying it since Berlin Olympics to see his dream come true. He leaves the room telling Raghubir that if he doesen't understand the unity of team now it will be too late for him. Then after, the second half starts Himmat is seen playing and then scores a goal with the help of Raghubir. Although bad weather conditions seemed in favor of the British, Tapan asks everyone to open their shoe to maintain grip on the ground. Finally India wins the match at 4–3 with Himmat scoring the last minute goal. Finally, when the captain, Devang receives the gold medal, the National Flag of independent India is hoisted and the anthem "

Jana Gana Mana "" (Sanskrit: जन गण मन) is the national anthem of the Republic of India. It was originally composed as ''Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata'' in Bengali by polymath Rabindranath Tagore. The first stanza of the song ''Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata ...

" is played. A proud Tapan concludes the narration with the words ''"Vande Mataram"'' (Victory to Mother India) as the anthem ends and tears of happiness take place.

Cast

Production

Development

The official announcement of the film was made in October 2016 by its lead actor

. The

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, on ...

winner and former Indian national hockey team captain,

Sandeep Singh Sandeep Singh (born 27 February 1986) is an Indian professional field hockey player from Haryana and an ex-captain of the Indian national hockey team. He generally features as a full back and is a penalty corner specialist for the team. He ...

, was signed to train the actors to improve their hockey skills. Major shooting was done in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

and

The Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Director

said, "It’s a fictional take on what happened. Also, it is not just the golden victory in 1948 we will be looking at, but it will encompass 12 crucial years in India’s history."

Filming

The

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

of the film began on 1 July 2017 in Bradford,

. The shooting of the film was carried out in

at Bradford,

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated i ...

and

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

. After finishing the England schedule, the production team of Gold moved to

in September 2017 for its second schedule in which shooting was done in

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Maj ...

and

Patiala Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the '' Qila Mubarak'' (the 'Fortunate Castle') constru ...

. Some parts of the movie were also shot in New Egerton Woolen Mills, Dhariwal a town in Punjab. The reason was the British infrastructure in the long established mill which resembled the post independence era. The final schedule of the film was completed in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

in December 2017. On 10 December 2017,

announced that the filming process of Gold had been completed.

Soundtrack

The music and background score of the film were composed by Sachin–Jigar. Additional songs were composed by

Arko Pravo Mukherjee Arko Pravo Mukherjee (born 19 May 1983), also known as Arko, is an Indian singer-songwriter and music composer who has worked in the Bollywood film industry since 2012. '' Jism 2'' was his debut film as a music composer and lyricist. Early li ...

and

Tanishk Bagchi Tanishk Bagchi (born 23 November 1980) is an Indian music producer, composer, singer and lyricist in Hindi films. He is known for tracks like "Bolna", "Ve Maahi", "Aankh Maarey"(recreated), " Dilbar" (recreated), "Jehda Nasha" (recreated) and "L ...

. The lyrics were written by

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian poet, lyricist, screenwriter and political activist. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2 ...

, Vayu, Arko Pravo Mukherjee and Chandrajeet Gannguli.

Marketing and release

The teaser for the film was launched on 5 February 2018. The first poster of movie was released by

on his Twitter handle on 28 April 2018. The trailer of the film was released on 9 May 2018. Some

Emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from typed convers ...

were launched on Twitter to promote the movie which worked by applying

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...

before specific keywords like #GoldMovie or #Gold2018. These emojis were effective until 16 August 2018. In India, the film released on 15 August 2018 with 3040 screens to coincide with the

India's Independence Day Independence Day is celebrated annually on 15 August as a public holiday in India commemorating the nation's independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947, the day when the provisions of the Indian Independence Act, which transf ...

and also clashing with ''

Satyameva Jayate Satyameva Jayate (, ) is a part of a ''mantra'' from the Hindu scripture '' Mundaka Upanishad''. Following the independence of India, it was adopted as the national motto of India on 26 January 1950, the day India became a republic. It is ins ...

''. After having been released in India, ''Gold'' was released in China on 13 December 2019.

Box office

Made on a budget of , ''Gold'' earned worldwide.

India

In India, ''Gold'' advance booking collection was 13.25 crore. The film netted 25.25 crore on its opening day, becoming one of the year's biggest opening day releases. As it released on the day of Wednesday, it had a 5 days extended weekend, in which it netted 71.10 crore in India. The extended 9 days week nett collection of the film was 89.30 crore. By the end of its third week, ''Gold'' had netted 108 crore at the domestic box office. It netted 109.58 crore in full theatrical run in India.The film had a gross collection of 141.04 crore domestically.

Overseas

Overseas, ''Gold'' earned a lifetime total gross of 17.88 crore.

Historical Inaccuracies

According to many experts, heroes of Indian national hockey are portrayed in poor light in this movie.

References

External links

* * {{Bollywood Hungama movie, gold 2018 films 2010s sports drama films Indian sports drama films Sports films based on actual events Films about the 1936 Summer Olympics Films about the 1948 Summer Olympics 2010s Hindi-language films Athletics films Hindi-language films based on actual events Films scored by Sachin–Jigar Films set in 1948 Indian films based on actual events Films set in the partition of India 2018 drama films Field hockey at the 1936 Summer Olympics Field hockey at the 1948 Summer Olympics Films shot in England Films shot in Yorkshire Films shot in South Yorkshire Films shot in Punjab, India Films shot in Mumbai Films set in Amritsar India at the Olympics India at the Summer Olympics Olympic Games in fiction Indian World War II films India–Pakistan relations in popular culture Cultural depictions of hockey players Cultural depictions of Indian men Films about field hockey in India Films directed by Reema Kagti