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Papwa Sewgolum defied apartheid to become a top international golfer.<\/p>\n
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The life story of Indian golfing legend Papwa Sewgolum is going to be made into a movie. And the search is on for a Bollywood A-lister to play the lead role. <\/p>\n
SA-based film producer David Selvan said the story was based on the human message that a person with \u201ctalent and fortitude\u201d could make it against all the odds. <\/p>\n
\u201cI believe people who watch it will be moved to tears and uplifted,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The film Papwa will be based on the real-life story of Sewgolum, a Durban man |who persevered to play world-class golf during the apartheid era. <\/p>\n
His prowess won him international acclaim and discredited the rationality of SA\u2019s segregation laws. <\/p>\n
Selvan will use next week\u2019s Durban FilmMart to pitch the film to international financiers, broadcasters and co-producers. <\/p>\n
He emphasised that the film would steer clear of any \u201cbig political message\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cPapwa could have been a world famous golfer but for apartheid\u2026 He had an extraordinary talent and was also an inspirational figure, a person who succeeded despite his very humble background. <\/p>\n
This is a personal and a historically significant story,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Selvan intended to start filming next year March. <\/p>\n
Sewgolum\u2019s son, Rajen, said yesterday that he was pleased to have a movie made about his father. <\/p>\n
Sewgolum, a former caddie, caused a stir in 1963 when he beat 103 white golfers \u2013 including Harold Henning \u2013 in the Natal Open tournament at the Durban Country Club. <\/p>\n
He was not allowed to enter the club to receive his prize. <\/p>\n
A picture of a downcast Sewgolum standing in the rain being handed his trophy through an open window while the rest of the golfers and |officials were warmly ensconced in the clubhouse enjoying the post-game fare outraged the world and gave impetus to the international movement to boycott apartheid sport. <\/p>\n
In 1965, Sewgolum went on to beat golfing great Gary Player. He won the Dutch Open in 1959, 1960 and 1963. <\/p>\n
Despite his success, as a black golfer he was not allowed to play the sport professionally in his own country. <\/p>\n
Sewgolum died in 1978. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Papwa Sewgolum defied apartheid to become a top international golfer. The life story of Indian golfing legend Papwa Sewgolum is going to be made into a movie. And the search is on for a Bollywood A-lister to play the lead role. SA-based film producer David Selvan said the story was based on the human message […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-12438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}