THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After roping in racing giants and second generation racers Freddy Hunt and Mathias Lauda for the MRF Formula 2000 championship series by the M & N Racing Club, its owner and motor racing enthusiast Jose Pottamkulam is on a new mission to take a documentary on them titled ‘The sons of speed' on a whopping Rs 90 lakh budget spanning 20 days shoot.
Incidentally, the famous biographical sports film, ‘Rush’ centred on the rivalry between race car drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda was premiered on Star TV on Sunday.
James Hunt, the 1976 Formula-1 world champion, passed away in 1993 at the age of 45 due to heart attack. Niki Lauda was seriously burnt in the same 1976 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring during which his Ferrari burst into flames and had a near brush with death. Jose told DC that their sons, Freddy and Mathias would kickstart their stint with M & N Racing Club at the MRF Formula 2000 championship in Doha next month when the documentary work would start. Freddy who had stopped racing for a while is back on the racing track with a new mission to raise funds to preserve the dwindling tiger population.
“The documentary will have two versions, a 60 minutes version for the film festivals and a 44 minutes duration for the television is about the two unique racers. Both Freddy and Mathias are coming together for the first time to race in the MRF Challenge 2000 which is being held in Doha(October 17-18), Bahrain (November 19-20) and Chennai (January 25, 2015). Freddy will come to Kerala as he is a tiger lover and visit the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Thekkady,” said Jose who is also the executive producer of ‘The sons of speed’.
Produced under the banner of ‘A Menhir Films Project,’ the scripting and direction are by Navneet Prakash where Mrinal Desai of Slumdog Billionaire fame will crank the camera. It is bound to show all the intense competition, drama and excitement of racing. But the highlight will be when they do a test drive in Chennai in January as part of familiarising with the Indian racing circuit. Jose feels that their arrival will increase the awareness about safe driving in the racing circuit.
