Abhay Deol, whose latest film Chopsticks, marked his digital debut on Netflix, will next be seen in a sports drama titled Jungle Cry. The actor shared that Jungle Cry is an example of how sports can open doors for people stuck in the cycle of caste.

“It’s an incredible story. It’s a story of the underdogs. It’s about hope and aspiration and a classic example of how sports is an opportunity for a lot of people who are stuck in this cycle of caste, a big thing in our country. It’s an outlet for them and shows how it (sports) can help them,” Abhay told IANS.

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Jungle Cry is a biopic based on rugby coach Rudraksh Jena and is inspired by the true story of the rugby team of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS). Abhay will be portraying the role of Coach Jena in the film.

The film will revolve around the story of tribal children who learnt the sport from scratch and within four months win the junior World Cup in the UK in 2007.

The film’s trailer was first unveiled on May 19 at the Cannes Film Festival 2019.

Abhay shared the inspiration of the film, “The KISS, started by Achyuta Samanta, in Odisha with all these tribal kids, has over 30,000 students now.”

“Samanta (now a member of Parliament) gave them the opportunity to learn and play sport. They were being taught football because we don’t have rugby in our country. When Paul Walsh, an English guy, saw them said they would be great at rugby. The boys were trained in rugby for four months and were taken to England. And they won the under-14 World Cup,” he added.