My father took me to Paris in 1998 for the first time. I had begged him because I wanted to see the art, history and culture. But every evening when we were sitting for dinner somewhere there were gigantic TVs and the entire restaurant becoming an animated audience for The World Cup. And soon art and history was left behind for football.
Until then I'd never seen football. I only knew about love for cricket and tennis. But after watching a few matches with the French, I was hooked. The euphoria when their team won, the disappointment when the others scored and the pride they felt for each player was magical. It was like this enormous, all encompassing, ecstatic group energy that I'd never experienced or felt with anything else in my life.
But the best part was when France won the World Cup! My Dad and I were walking through the millions of people at Champs Elysees, singing and watching parade after motor car parade whizzing by, handing out flags, food, beer, hugs. The whole country was celebrating n it was pure, clean, unadulterated fun.
Since then I was hooked. I needed to see every match, cheer for my teams, and got to know the players a little bit better (very good looking, fit men add to the sports attraction!)
The next time I watched FIFA was when I was shooting for the film Boom with Kaizad Gustad. During breaks, a few of us would dive into restaurants to watch the game. I remember standing next to Mr. Amitabh Bachchan in a small restaurant in Dubai when Brazil was playing. And I was more interested in my team winning than taking a picture with him. When Brazil won the World Cup beating Germany 2-0 that year I kind of remembered that both Amitji and I had prayed for them n we made them win together!
In 2014 I was in New York City when the World Cup was happening. It was my solo trip to explore the city, life and myself but I found myself at bars cheering on my team with the rest of the people there. A really cute guy asked me out that day but Germany was beating Brazil 7-1 and I was far more interested in why my team was making so many mistakes than making a mistake with a white guy that night!
This FIFA I'm not in any fancy country but my own home in Mumbai and watching it. I still feel the thrill when a team almost scores. I can't believe that Coutinho did that kick. And for all the sleepless nights I'll be having, I'll always remain a FIFA WORLD CUP fan.
