Bollywood actor Ali Fazal has been associated with the game of Football and Baksetball since his early days in school and college.

Other than playing basketball Ali is also a passionate about football too. He loves watching the game and plays whenever he has free time on his hands.

Few years ago, Ali mentored a team of children from Shillong as their brand ambassador and while shooting for one of his films in Goa, Ali initiated the idea to fly the boys from Shillong football club to Goa and mentor them side by side while shooting for his film.

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Ali is now all set to mentor young football enthusiasts from Lucknow while shooting for his current film Prasthaanam. Even after the completion of his film, Ali will continue mentoring these talented kids till the time their potential is recognised by professional football clubs of India.

Speaking about it,  Ali said, “When I worked with the amazing team at Shillong and seeing the kids and their hard work, it really reminded me of my training not too long ago when I was an athlete during my college days. Being a fan of football, I have always had immense interest in the sport on and off the field. And when I met these young, very enthusiastic kids in Lucknow while I was shooting there I was really impressed with their talent on field and I feel with the right mentoring they can do a lot in the sport.”

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“They don’t even have proper fields at this point. I am also in hopes to get govt sanctions for multipurpose play fields in the city. So the idea is to, apart from encouraging them, also mentor them by providing them the right guidance and technical support which can help them brush their skills to take up the sport professionally if they wish to in their future. I will be tying up with various sponsors’ as well so push this initiative as game equipment needs to be bought.”

Prassthanam is the official remake of Telugu film with the same name directed by Deva Katta under Sanjay Dutt production. The cast includes Sanjay Dutt, Manisha Koirala, Ali Fazal, Amyra Dastur, and Satyajeet Dubey amongst others.