Real Kashmir Football Club review: A feel-good sports drama that cuts out the noise to focus on what Kashmir really needs!

RKFC is a story of Kashmir that isn’t driven by anger or political commentary, but by heart and hope. It's a reminder of what it means to reclaim everything the state has lost!

It’s strange how the most beautiful place in India, our so-called heaven on earth is so often pictured trapped behind barbed wires. As if the irony of Kashmir simply refuses to leave, even when people desperately want to move on. What was once the go-to backdrop of romance in Hindi cinema has now been reduced to a stereotype, as though we’ve collectively forgotten the art of romanticising Kashmir. Maybe what’s needed is a shift in narrative, one that Songs of Paradise attempted earlier, and one that Real Kashmir Football Club now steps in to offer. After all, what better than art and sport, two things built on passion and community, to bring about change for Kashmir, even in the way we depict it on screen?

Based on the true story of Sandip Chattoo and Shamim Meraj, the founders of the real-life Real Kashmir FC, the show follows two men - a Muslim and a Kashmiri Pandit, who, instead of fighting, choose to come together to bring hope back to the Valley through the once-beloved, now-forgotten sport of football. Sohail(Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) is a journalist exhausted by sensationalism and the constant pressure to manufacture drama. He wants to bring change to Kashmir rooted in reality, something he rediscovers through his love for football, a sport that once had a thriving culture but now lacks even a proper playing field. His journey begins with the search for an investor, which leads him to Shirish Bhatt (Manav Kaul), a returning Kashmiri Pandit and liquor supplier who wants to do something meaningful for his homeland and simply coexist in peace. 

So, what starts off as a practical arrangement as Sohail needs Shirish’s money and Shirish wants a cause that can shift how he is perceived as a returning outsider, slowly transforms into a story of quiet revolution. Not the loud, chest-thumping, slogan-heavy kind, but one that channels anger, displacement, and lingering trauma into purpose. Joined by some boys each carrying their own burdens, the two men find themselves building not just a team but a shared dream, stumbling over every possible obstacle and yet somehow moving forward.

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The eight-episode series understands the patience required to tell this story. It doesn’t rush, even though Sohail’s journey towards establishing the club kicks off as early as Episode 1. Its real strength lies in how it resists the temptation to adopt the aggression of the sport it’s centred around. Every obstacle mirrors the game - dodging defenders, keeping focus, shaping strategy but the fire of the field never spills off the field, in storytelling. Instead, the series quietly unfolds the lived realities of Kashmir where the youth struggles with unemployment thereby drifting toward dangerous paths, civilians and military personnel coexist in a fragile, uncomfortable space and generations of residents negotiate their own complicated relationships with the land.

All of this is portrayed without noise or melodrama. It’s not that everything goes smoothly, there’s conflict as tension between a once-famous player and the coach arises again, there is friction involving a young manager associated with the hard-line politician in a side hustle, and the unresolved trauma of a Kashmiri Pandit who cannot bring himself to return to his old home. But the show isn’t interested in blame. It’s invested in how these characters learn to understand their relationship with one another and the state. And that’s where its authenticity lies, in the depiction of a Kashmir that is constantly problem-solving on the ground, whether it involves turning a football field into a wedding venue, supporting women pursuing work, or rebuilding trust across religious and ideological lines.

This sense of lived-in reality comes alive because of the performances. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub brings a weary yet quietly persistent energy to Sohail, a journalist whose jugaad always seems to work out in the end, not because of luck but because of relentless pursuit. Manav Kaul blends determination with vulnerability, capturing the emotional fragility of a man who has lost everything once. And the standout Abhishant Rana as Amaan, whose journey of transformation is rooted in recognising manipulation versus genuine intent.

The series, developed by Dhruv Narang and written by Simaab Hashmi, Danish Renzu, and Umang Vyas, and directed by Mahesh Mathai and Rajesh Mapuskar, does sometimes fall into the trap of becoming too mellow, diluting moments that could have benefitted from a stronger dramatic pulse. But even with that, Real Kashmir Football Club remains a story worth taking any day. After all, how often do we see a Kashmiri Muslim and a Kashmiri Pandit shown not as adversaries shaped by historical wounds, but as two people in the same boat. Two Kashmiris equally beaten and battered by the complicated machinery of the state, two men who realise that healing has to come from choosing hope over rage? Because the thousand cuts have marked all bodies in the Valley, and no one wound is greater than the other. Maybe that’s exactly why we need more stories like these!

Real Kashmir Football Club is currently streaming on SonyLIV!

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