Music: {allcanada} Father, son team up in 'Breakaway'

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

{allcanada} Father, son team up in 'Breakaway'

Ajay and Vinay Virmani are a father and son who discovered they had something to offer each other professionally.

Ajay -- producer of choice for the likes of Deepa Mehta (Water, Hollywood Bollywood) -- knows an idea with commercial potential when he sees one.

Vinay, who studied acting at the Strasberg Institute in New York, apparently delivered one out of the gate with his first script Breakaway, the serio-comic tale of a Sikh-Canadian hockey-loving kid who plays the game in defiance of his family.

"I played hockey in school, and lot of boys you see in the film are my buddies from back then. And they faced a lot of the same things the characters do -- issues with their fathers, the helmet (versus turban) issue, and racial barriers within the game.

"So I had this character in mind for a few years and then I had one of those magical nights where you just sit down and write. I had a 10-page story and presented it to my father, who instantly just connected with it."

The result was both Vinay's first script and first lead role in one, in a movie awash in pop cultural hot-points -- a cameo acting-debut by Drake, a closing-credits video co-written and performed by Ludacris, Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar as himself, and a key role by internationally popular comic Russell Peters as the meddling jerk in-law of the hero Rajveer Singh (Virmani).

And for the old folks, there's Rob Lowe as the tough-love coach of the Speedy Singhs, Raj's all-Punjabi city-league hockey team -- 25 years after he filmed the movie Youngblood in Toronto.

"Youngblood is one of my favourite sports films of all time," Vinay says. "It's a classic, and Rob was great, such a big support to me. One of the first days I had him on the set, he gave me a big hug, he said 'You're just where I was 20 years ago. This is like a big homecoming for me.' "

Adds Ajay with a laugh, "He said (to Vinay), 'I'm Oldblood now. You're Youngblood.' "

Get Ajay talking about Breakaway and you almost feel like you're getting the Dragon's Den version of the movie's cross-cultural marketing potential. He mentions hockey players like the Punjabi-Canadian Manny Malhotra and the Leafs' Muslim-Canadian Nazem Kadri. "And the Leafs and Vancouver Canucks games are now broadcast in Punjabi," he points out.

"The interesting part was, when I presented this to Alliance and other distributors, they said 'Ice hockey, Sikhs, elephants, ice helmets, Ludacris, Drake, Akshay from Bollywood? How do they all fit in one movie?' "

The well-connected Ajay called in a lot of favours. "It was a challenge to bring these people together, and basically a lot of them didn't charge their full fees. Ludacris, we have a good relationship with his team. They liked the movie and the cross-cultural theme and how it expands 'Brand Ludacris' to the South Asian community."

Vinay says he was already getting attention from his community, even before the movie was shown. "A lot of South Asian kids are coming up to me and saying, 'Wow, we have a team (albeit a fictional one). We have our own jersey we can wear!' "

With all the hockey talk, Dad points out, "I really don't like to call our film a hockey film." (It's being marketed in India, where hockey doesn't even register, under the title Speedy Singh.)

"Hockey is a backdrop, but it'll connect with different audiences. It's a father-and-son story, a love story, a story for people who feel lost in life, or if nothing else, music fans who like the fusion between Bollywood and Ludacris. There is something for everybody."

As for the real-life father and son, Ajay clearly considers Breakaway a legacy project. "I got Vinay involved in the whole filmmaking process, whether it's post-production or writing or acting, which gives him a heads-up for the future."

It was a tough apprenticeship for Vinay, who's in nearly every scene. "It was definitely a full-out experience, creating an entertainment package. I shot 30 of 30 (days), every single day," he says.

Adds Ajay: "35, actually. I paid for it so I know."