The Film

The Desert Kick

In a remote village in Rajasthan, a group of girls discover football and begin challenging the boundaries placed around their lives — eventually becoming part of a Rajasthan team that creates history by winning the Junior Girls’ National Football Championship for the first time ever.

Synopsis

In a remote village in Rajasthan, a group of girls discover football and begin challenging the boundaries placed around their lives.

What starts with a football becomes a journey through poverty, social pressure, family resistance, ambition, friendship and belief.

Twelve of the girls eventually became part of the Rajasthan team that created history by winning the Junior Girls’ National Football Championship for the first time ever.

But the championship is only part of the story. The film is about the people, choices and circumstances that made that journey possible.

The Story

They came from a place where football was not considered a game for girls.

Many were not expected to leave home, play sport or imagine lives beyond the boundaries already set for them.

Then football entered their lives.

What followed was not simply a sporting journey. It became a journey through resistance, family expectations, social norms, friendship, ambition and belief.

At the centre of that journey was a coach who kept asking families to let their daughters play.

And gradually, the girls began to change — and the world around them began to change with them.

Twelve of the girls eventually became part of the Rajasthan team that created history by winning the Junior Girls’ National Football Championship for the first time ever.

The trophy was the destination. The journey is the film.

Chapters