To tell the story of a sport venerated in a country is an attractive idea, especially when the subject revolves around the community which has pioneered it in India around a hundred and forty years ago. The first community to tour England in 1886, the first to start a cricket club even before that and which had four Parsis (including the Captain) in a single test match, has now woefully taken a back seat where Indian cricket is concerned.

While the title ‘Four on Eleven’ alludes to the decorated four – Nari Contractor (Captain), Polly Umrigar, Farokh Engineer and Rusi Surti who played in the same Test in the 1961-62 series in West Indies, the subtitle ‘Fading Glory’ is a dichotomy of the present and past. The director juggles the narratives of their careers with much dexterity, while providing a glimpse into the minds of Contractor and Engineer, the two surviving members of the famed quartet.

The documentary, partly dependent on archival footage and partly on interviews of cricket historian and former commentator Fredun de Vitre, Parsee Gymkhana Vice-President and Cricket Secretary and the guiding force behind the Gymkhana Cricket – Khodadad Yazdegardi, Gymkhana captain and Mumbai U-16 selector Kersi Pavri, former international Umpire Shahvir Tarapore and former Tanzania national bowling coach Vispi Mehta. It is a lively chronicle, tracing cricket’s origins, its introduction to India, and the pivotal role of the Parsis in popularizing the sport. The interviews delve into factors behind the decline of Parsis in competitive cricket today.

Diana Edulji, former captain of the women’s Indian cricket team, world record holder of maximum overs bowled in women’s Tests, and inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame, speaks of women’s cricket in general and how Aloo Bamjee nurtured women’s cricket. In the press conference preceding the Mumbai premiere, Diana and her sister, Behroze, spoke candidly of the trials and tribulations of their initial days of women’s cricket in India.

Some of the film’s more poignant moments are scenes of Nari Contractor being hit on the head by a bouncer from Charlie Griffith resulting in a skull fracture, and Farokh Engineer missing out on a landmark century before lunch (he had remained not out on 94). However, Fredun, the narrator and director Shrikaran seem to have judiciously steered clear of the factors behind these incidents. Nonagenarian Nari Contractor, whose promising career came to a premature end at the hands of Griffith (pun intended), minces no words. He speaks from the heart of the current state of affairs.

Farokh Engineer was the last Parsi to represent India, with his last international match in 1974. But Arzan Nagwaswalla shines like a beacon of hope. The left arm pacer was one of the standbys for the World Test final in England.

What started out as an in-house college project while pursuing his Film Studies course at Xavier Institute of Communications, ended up as a full-fledged feature documentary by Shrikaran Beecharaju, now an assistant director in the Telugu film industry. Having also produced and edited the film, it has already been screened in several Film festivals, and bagged a few awards as well.

Some ground still remains uncovered – a 56-minute documentary can only scratch the surface and afford a thumbnail sketch of the major players. Rusi Jeejeebhoy of Calcutta (who toured West Indies in the 1970-71 tour as a reserve wicketkeeper, stalwarts like Hoshi Amroliwalla, SBI leggie Noshir Tantra, Rusi Mody, former Mumbai player and now director of Rajasthan Royals – Zubin Bharucha, Sorabji Mehta and son Noshir of Hyderabad, Keki Tarapore (Rahul Dravid’s coach) of Bangalore and umpires Dara Dotiwala and Piloo Reporter, Rashna Vaid and Behroze Edulji in women’s cricket…  can all be featured in a sequel, despite some of the above having been given a mention in the film.

Unfortunately, the paying public may have to wait till Shrikaran finds a suitable OTT platform for his film. For our sake and his, let’s hope he does.