Jungle Cry won the ‘Best Film’ (Jury) award at the Dada Saheb Phalke International Film Festival 2021. This real life story highlights that nothing is impossible and promotes how education, sports helps eradicate poverty and evokes a sense of patriotism. Helmed by Sagar Ballary of ‘Bheja Fry’ fame and Prashant Shah of Bollywood Hollywood Productions, it chronicles the journey of 12 underprivileged children from Odisha, students of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), who go on to win the prestigious U-14 Rugby World Cup in England.
Trailer:
The Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival is a not-for-profit, non-commercial & India’s only independent film festival, established in the year 2011 with a mission to celebrate the cinema & work of aspiring, young, independent & professional filmmakers. The festival is important for Indian film industry as it is organized on April 30 each year to mark the birth anniversary of Late Shri. Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, regarded as the father of Indian Cinema & fondly remembered as Dada Saheb Phalke by the film fraternity.
I am very glad with the success of Jungle Cry, a movie on how KISSians won the U-14 Rugby. Championship in England braving all geographical, cultural and strategic barriers in 2007. I feel so happy that KISS, which was established for tribal children empowerment and enablement through education, also focussed on sports as a tool for empowerment and transformation. As early as 2005, we introduced Rugby, knowing well that tribal boys and girls would pick up the game really well. In 2007, our boys team that represented India created history and since then KISS has promoted and popularised the game of Rugby all over India. This unique achievement of KISS is beautifully depicted in Jungle Cry.
I vividly remember the day when we got the passports of these 15 students in hand. Our students had never travelled beyond Odisha. For them, the glance of an aeroplane flying high in the skies and running after it till it was visible was only thinkable. We had to write to Ministry of Home Affairs to get their passports and visa in a record three months – back in 2007 when digitization had just begun. Before the children left for England, we hosted a get together to motivate them where we gave them the passports. I took proper care to get them groomed by taking in the nearby Infosys office, where they learnt how to use lift, table etiquettes, toilet habits and certain lessons on body language. Regular soft skill classes were given to them for functional conversations.
“Come back as you are going. See that you take care of yourself.” These were my words while they were leaving instead of a war cry. I remember facilitating all sport gear and equipment, official suit and dress for them ( suit, tie, shoes). I gave them currency in pounds to spend and also provided the coach with international roaming sim card for taking daily update. All the students and staff of KISS watched the final match together. When the team won, we all danced in ecstasy. All were so happy when the team came back victorious creating history. Since then, Rugby has become not a part of life, but life for students at KISS.
Historical work in the universe,Dr Achyuta Samanta founder of KISS long live.Dr Samanta is a living God for Tribals students.
We the Tribals of India convey greatest gratitude Dr Samanta and congratulate for his greatest contributions.
It is a true story and the win of KISS Rugby team won the u-14 World Cup completely planed and supported by your leadership. The players were so motivated when you send them a message during half time when they were trailing 0-5 try won it 19-5 at the end. Really an effort change the perspective completely and now KIIT and KISS is a sports friendly campus produced many champions in so many games including Rugby.
The making of legends is a continuous journey of selfless service and endless pursuit of excellence our esteemed Samantha Sir has exemplfied the same..ODISA with the rich tribal population was going astray when Samantha Sir dared to bring them to the main focus with KISS giving all facilities .Today not only he has curbed Naxalism with this drastic step but also created wonders bybtracking the potentiality of these tribal children who had a hard living…putting their stamina into right tracks and giving them the right platform our loving founder Samantha Sir has created wonders not only for the tribal world but also for the state ..the country and also to the motherland. .my grand salutes to the esteemed Samantha sir ji and many congratulations to the team …the coach ..the players and each n everyone involved in this achievement…Hats off…???
I still remember the days back during March to September, 2007 when our team was preparing for the World Rugby Championship. Lots of hurdles came every way like how to make passports for the 15 tribal boys, how to play in UK in adverse climate, how to communicate with foreigners from Airport to UK . How to fly in Air with 12 Nos. of under 14 players. What is pound and how to exchange it ! How we do daily activities at UK etc. The only positive thing we carried was the inspiration of Dr. Achyuta Samanta, our Hon’ble Founder Sir and his encouraging statement that “everything is possible , if you are doing positive work then think positive always and leave rest of the things to the unseen power. This gave us charging spirit for which we could defeat all hurdles and Won the Trophy ?. This was only possible due to the blessings of our beloved Founder Sir.
I was an audience when all the students returned.I am very proud that I am a part of this institution.
सत्य घटनाओं पर आधारित दादा साहेब फाल्के पुरस्कार से सम्मानित यह फिल्म दर्शाता है कि कुछ भी असंभव नहीं है और यह सब कुछ KISS के संस्थापक डॉ. सामंत के अथक परिश्रम का प्रतिफल है। इंग्लैंड में जाकर वर्ष २००७ में U-14 रग्बी प्रतियोगिता पर कब्ज़ा जमाकर अपनी मातृभमि के लिए इतिहास रचना KISS के लिए बड़े गौरव की बात है। हमारी शुभकामना है कि यह संस्थान इसी प्रकार इतिहास रचता रहे चाहे वह शिक्षा का क्षेत्र हो या खेल का।