Real Kashmir Football Club review: Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub shines in SonyLIV's gentle underdog saga

Stories from Kashmir—in both fact and fiction—are often boxed into the same themes: militancy, the military, Pakistan and conflict. But every now and then, something far more layered and humane breaks through that frame, and showcases, in a way, the real Kashmir – breathing, living, laughing, crying and rejoicing. Real Kashmir Football Club, a SonyLIV eight-part series, is one such story.

The show is inspired by the real-life journey of Shamim Mehraj and Sandeep Chattoo, the duo who founded Real Kashmir FC in 2016 after the devastation caused by the 2014 floods. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub plays Sohail Meer, a disgruntled journalist who quits the profession to start a professional football club in the Valley. Along the way, he teams up with Shirish Kemmu (Manav Kaul), a liquor baron, who faces not just hardline politician Nazir Dar (Adhir Bhat) but also his own past, the one he had left behind in Pampore during the exodus in the 1990s.

A team begins to take shape—a motley group drawn from every corner of life: men who quit stable jobs to chase a dream, a boy pushed into cricket but in love with football, another who signed up simply for the ₹10,000 salary, and some who join for izzat (respect). And then there’s the coach Mustafa (Mu’Azzam Bhat), who carries an innate goodness, and “sher-e-Srinagar” Azlan (Anmol Dhillon Thakeria), a football legend for the valley. Even though Mustafa and Azlan cannot see eye to eye, they come together for one shared dream: to make something out of football in a conflict-ridden place. All this stokes a sense of urgency in a show, which otherwise progresses at a gentler pace—a sense of how important a sport can be, not so much as a profession but for a larger purpose in life.

It somehow reminded me of the journey of the Afghanistan cricket team, an example of how a sport can create pride and joy in circumstances that offer very little of either. Real Kashmir Fan Club is your familiar underdog story, with its share of hits and misses, but with its heart in the right place.

But where the show absolutely shines is in how deliberately it refuses Kashmir’s token imagery — the Dal Lake and shikaras, the barbed wires, the guns, the ‘Free Kashmir’ graffiti. These elements exist, but they recede into the background when placed beside a roadside barber at work, a butcher in his shop, a man selling lavasa breads, children in school uniforms racing through narrow lanes, and neighbourhoods humming with everyday energy.

The individual character arcs are familiar and largely expected. But the one that truly stands out is that of Amaan (Abhishant Rana), the club’s operations manager — a boy who has all the makings of someone who could throw stones, yet chooses another path. Rana brings such innocence and sincerity to the role that he becomes the clearest expression of a young Kashmiri’s inner conflict, caught between conservative pressures and the possibility of a different life.

Real Kashmir Football Club has its share of shortcomings. Shirish’s inner turmoil about returning to his ancestral home — and, by extension, confronting a past shaped by conflict — never fully lands. The show also tends to resolve its challenges far more quickly than expected, softening the emotional stakes.

Yet despite these flaws, it remains a refreshing watch — a series anchored in a certain purity of intent, content simply to tell a beautiful story. And it helps that the performances land, especially Ayyub’s, who’s simply excellent.