Q. How did the idea for Stick to Dreams come to you?
A. After working for nearly four years as a sports journalist (a large part of my work was being a cricket correspondent), I had developed a soft corner for field hockey. I wanted to learn the craft of film-making, which is a more enduring story form, as compared to TV news. So, I decided to make a film on Indian hockey. I did through fieldwork to understand the culture of hockey. I realised that there is a bigger story with universal appeal, one where every passionate hockey fan is seeing a dream and must swim against the tide. Andrea’s (Thumshirn) story moved me even more because she does not even have to be proud of Indian hockey. She is a German national who gave up her cosy and comfortable life there to nurture a hockey village in India. She partnered with a bright young Indian woman, Varsha Sharma, to launch a school in Rajasthan. This story had to be told. It was my graduation project for my Master of Design programme at IIT Bombay.

Andrea Thumshirn came as a German tourist and stayed on to create a hockey school