ISL 2017/18: Footage of Bengaluru FC fans in legendary Kerala defender VP Sathyan's biopic causes controversy

What's the story?

The trailer of the Malayalam movie Captain, which is based on the life of Indian football legend VP Sathyan, has one particular shot that seems to have pitted two of the most passionate groups of football fans in the country against each other -- yet again.

Sathyan, who made his name by winning the Federation Cup twice with the Kerala Police, is seen being cheered on by none other than the West Block Blues, the supporter-group of Bengaluru FC, who have become arch-rivals of the Kerala Blasters fans in the ISL, over the last few months.

In case you didn't know...

VP Sathyan was the former Indian captain and led the Indian team to a gold medal in the SAF games in 1995. He even won the Federation cup twice with the Kerala Police football team. But in 2006, he took his own life after going into depression.

The heart of the matter

Now, a film is being made based on Sathyan's life, which is called Captain and is being directed by Prajesh Sen under the production of Goodwill Entertainment. Popular actor Jayasuria has been roped in to play Sathyan's role, while Anu Sithara will be playing his wife.

But in the trailer, Bengaluru FC's fans have been shown cheering on for the Kerala legend which, is controversial because of the recent spats between Kerala and Bengaluru fans on social media.

https://t.co/CzCw61Zzhm , watch 0.45 sec.

The @WestBlockBlues footage in a malayalam movie about the legendary Sathyan. Now that's something ! @fni @menonkid @ullasmarar @sreedhanya
— Rakesh Haridas (@TheDiemCarper) January 13, 2018

Hope it doesn't become a mockery like the other sports movies. This is V P Sathyan. This is important.
— Rakesh Haridas (@TheDiemCarper) January 13, 2018

When a Malayalam movie has @WestBlockBlues in it. This is not going to go down well with the spam brigade xD. Goto 0:40 second. #WestBlockBlues #IndianFootball @fni @anant174 @ullasmararhttps://t.co/PmGSvy3qAt
— Waseem Ahmed (@Waseem_Ahmed11) January 13, 2018

Sathyan is a legend who had a tragic end to his life and you want to create a controversy over a scene.
— Ranjith (@ranji_eluvangal) January 13, 2018

It is V P Sathyan movie. If movie is gud people will watch. No one is going to notice the above mentioned reason. Doesn't matter to me. Sathyan is a legend. Don't drag this into a unnecessary debate. My opinion
— krishnan (@krishg1990) January 13, 2018

They needed the crowd to be blue in colour. That's it??
Probably they don't even know it's @WestBlockBlues
— Adhu (@talkadhu) January 13, 2018

What's next?

All the Indian football fans are waiting for the movie on the life of the legendary captain and we just hope that it does justice to the great defender from Kerala, who also went on to play for Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan.

Author's take

It is not clear whether the filmmakers knew about the rivalry before portraying the BFC fans as the fans of Kerala Police. However, Sathyan is an Indian legend and we hope club rivalries will be forgotten as we celebrate one of the greatest defenders to have donned the Indian jersey.