Life of 6-time Winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan from Manali to inspire movie
Dipender Manta
Tribune News Service
Mandi, August 4
Actor, writer and entrepreneur Kunal Kapoor is making a film on six-time Winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan, a native of Manali. Kunal announced this in an Instagram post, which delighted Keshavan.
Kapoor posted, “I am very happy to start my journey as a producer with the story of six-time winter Olympian, the amazing @100thofasec. A story that I have lived with and been inspired by for many years. A story that is not only about resilience and the path less taken, but also about the spirit of India. Our ability to reach for the impossible with limited resources.”
No mean feat
- Shiva Keshavan is a 6-time Olympian and the first Indian representative to compete in luge at the Winter Olympics
- He set a new Asian speed record at 134.3 km/h and won a gold medal in the 2011 Asian Luge Cup at Nagano in Japan
In reply to the post of Kunal Kapoor, Olympian Shiva Keshavan posted, “I am super excited to announce that I am working on a film with a wonderful human being & multi talented @kunalkkapoor. Looking forward to bring some attention to winter sports, the Himalayas & most of all to the fire we all have within us that together forms the great blaze — India!”
Keshavan is a six-time Olympian and the first Indian representative to compete in luge at the Winter Olympic Games. He set a new Asian speed record at 134.3 km/h (83.5 mph) after beating the previous record of 131.9 km/h (82.0 mph) and won a gold medal in the 2011 Asian Luge Cup at Nagano in Japan. In 2012, he set a new Asian track record at 49.590 seconds. He is the reigning Asian champion.
He won the Junior National Ski Championship in 1995 at the age of 14. At the age of 15, he attended a luge camp at his school, conducted by world champion Günther Lemmerer. Keshavan was selected as a promising young athlete and went on to become the youngest person to ever officially qualify for the Olympic Games in luge, attending the Nagano 1998 games at the age of 16.
In 2014, Keshavan walked as an Independent Olympic participant at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Sochi due to the suspension of the Indian Olympic Association. However, later on during the Sochi Winter Olympics, the Indian Olympic Association made a comeback, resulting in Keshavan competing under the Indian flag.
Keshavan qualified for his sixth and final Olympics in 2018, where he finished 34th out of 40 athletes in the men’s singles event. In 2014, he became the founder-president of the Olympians Association of India.
He now aims to promote the Winter Games in India.
Keshavan struggled hard to reach the Olympics without government support and with limited resources, he represent the India in the Winter Olympics. He had to go for crowd funding to fund his expenses.
