Jersey (2019 film)

The movie starts in 2019 in New York City, where a young man buys a book called Jersey from a book stall but gives it away to a woman who came in to buy the book. When the woman asks for the reason why he gave her the book, the man replies that the book is on the life of his father, Arjun.

The movie moves back to 1986, where Arjun is an immensely talented Ranji player who is in love with Sarah. Arjun quits cricket when he is repeatedly gets rejected to play in the Indian team, due to selection politics. He is given a government job under the sports quota, but loses it when he is accused of bribery.

10 years later in 1996, the 36-year old Arjun is jobless and always scolded by his wife Sarah, for not consulting a lawyer to get his job back, since he is innocent. Their seven-year-old son Nani (Ronit Kamra), who plays for his school cricket team, asks Arjun for an Indian jersey. Arjun comes to know that the jersey costs ₹500, and despite not having the money, promises his son that he will gift him the jersey for his birthday. Arjun finally consults a lawyer for losing his job but is told that he cannot get his job back until he pays the lawyer. Left with no option, Arjun starts asking money from his friends to buy the jersey but is not successful.

Arjun's ex-coach Murthy, approaches him with a request to play in a charity match being planned between the Hyderabad cricket team and New Zealand. Arjun is promised a match fee of ₹1000 as match fee and based on his performance, a job as the assistant coach. Arjun plays the match and gives a wonderful performance in the match, but finds out that there is no match fee. When Nani asks him for the jersey, Arjun slaps him in a fit of depression.

On realizing the depth of his son's love for him, Arjun decides to play cricket again. Coach Murthy is shocked at first, but later supports him. Arjun attends the Hyderabad Ranji team selection trials and based on some stellar performances as batsman, gets selected to play into the Ranji team, despite his age. Arjun starts representing the team and plays exceptionally good cricket and leads his team to the finals. He also wins back the love of his wife. In the finals, when the Hyderabad team is stuck in tough situation, Arjun single-handedly leads the team to victory, but he himself collapses soon after the match.

Back in 2019, the adult Nani (the man who bought the book at the beginning) and Sarah are invited to a felicitation ceremony of Arjun in a hotel. Nani gets a gift, the Indian jersey that he had asked his father 23 years ago. Nani reveals that Arjun had died in the hospital 2 days after the Ranji finals - he was suffering from a heart disease called Arrhythmia, causing irregular heartbeat. Arjun had known about it when he was 26 years old, the real reason why he had quit cricket when he was 26, but never told anyone about it.

The project was announced by Gowtham Tinnanuri in June 2018 and the first look poster along with the film title was released on social media on 15 June 2018.[8][9] The first look poster includes a cricket jersey with the name "Arjun", who is a struggling 36 year old cricketer played by Nani in the lead role.[10] The pre-production work of the film was underway from June 2018 and filming commenced on 18 October 2018.[11] The film was launched on 17 October 2018 and director Trivikram Srinivas attended the ceremony as chief guest.[8]

It was revealed that Nani signed for the film in June 2018 while he was busy wrapping up his shoot for Devadas. The film announcement was made while Nani was hosting the second season of the Bigg Boss Telugu show which commenced on 10 June 2018.[12][13] The project marks Nani's 23rd film in his career.[9]

The soundtrack album was composed by Anirudh Ravichander, on his second Telugu album after Agnyaathavaasi. On 14 February 2019, the film's first single, "Adhento Gaani Vunnapaatuga", was released and won applause for freshness in the melody. Other tracks of the album were released as singles. Zee Music Company acquired the rights of the soundtrack. The entire soundtrack album was released on 17 April 2019. An additional song named "Aarambhame Le" was released on 24 April 2019. Another soundtrack album featuring the original background score, plus an additional song was released on 13 May 2019.

Telugu Songs

Tamil Songs

The film is a period drama set in 1986 and 1996.[14] The official teaser of the film was unveiled on 12 January 2019 with the confirmation of the scheduled release date of April 19, 2019.[15][16][17]

The film was later dubbed and released in Hindi on television and YouTube by Goldmines Telefilms on 13 October 2019.[18]

A remake in Hindi with the same title, directed by Gowtham Tinnanauri and produced by Allu Aravind, Aman Gill, Dil Raju is scheduled to be released in August 2020.[19][20][21]

Jersey is being remade into Hindi directed by Goutam Tinnanuri and produced by Dil Raju, Allu Aravind and Aman Gill under Sri Venkateswara Creations and Geetha Arts, and stars Shahid Kapoor and Mrunal Thakur.[31]

• Jersey on IMDb
• Jersey on Zee5