Shubhangi Shekhar Makes Directorial Debut With Indian Basketball Documentary

India-West News Desk

LOS ANGELES, CA-Filmmaker Shubhangi Shekhar makes her feature directorial debut with ‘Hoop Like This’, a documentary on the world’s first professional Indian basketball team, with Grammy-nominated musician Nav serving as executive producer.

The film features NBA champion Jeremy Lin, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania, and actor Utkarsh Ambudkar. Also appearing are Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé, ESPN SportsCenter anchor Kevin Negandhi, and comedian Nimesh Patel.

The documentary follows the Brown Ballers, a 12-member team assembled to compete in ESPN’s $1 million tournament, The Basketball Tournament (TBT). The players, drawn from the Indian diaspora, balance professional careers -including medicine, engineering, and business -while competing at a high level.

The film traces the team’s journey from its debut in 2022 and a loss to defending champions to a global scouting effort across India, Taiwan, Canada, and the United States. It culminates in a 2023 run that includes a first-round victory recorded as the biggest upset in the tournament’s history.

The story also highlights challenges faced by athletes of Indian origin, including restrictions on dual citizenship that have limited eligibility to represent India in international sport.

“I realized that our community doesn’t need to look to fiction for heroes,” Shekhar said. “They exist in real life, right in front of us. It’s our responsibility to pay attention and tell their stories.”

Nav said his involvement was driven by representation and personal interest. “I’ve been a big hoops fan since I was a kid and our community has long been underrepresented at a national level,” he said. “Given where I am at now in my career it felt like the perfect time to champion a story like this.”

The team effort is led by Gautam Kapur, a former NBA employee, who set out to bring together Indian-origin players from around the world to compete in the tournament.

The film is produced by Shekhar along with Kunal Patel, Pulkit Datta, Zach Galst, Tony Castle, and Roxy Hunt. Kapur and Akhil Hegde of HRTGE serve as executive producers alongside Nav. UTA Independent Film Group is handling worldwide sales.

The documentary will premiere in May at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, CAAMFest in San Francisco, and the Asian American Showcase in Chicago.