Desi Talk

www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 27 SPORTS May 8, 2026 A feature documentary premier- ing in Los Angeles May 1, 2026, follows the journey of the world’s first professional Indian bas- ketball team on ESPN, with a three-city festival premiere run. Famous personalities in the world of mainstream basketball, like NBA Champion Jeremy Lin, and NBA Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé make cameo appearanc- es, in this never-told-before story titled – HOOP LIKE THIS, a feature documen- tary debut from Shubhangi Shekhar, and the dream child of Indian American Gautam Kapur. Other well-known people who appear include ESPN SportsCenter anchor Kevin Negandhi, ESPN Senior NBA Insider Shams Charania, WNBA Seattle Storm Head Coach Sonia Raman, comedian Nimesh Patel, and actor Utkarsh Ambud- kar. Director Shekhar and Executive Producer Grammy-nominated musician NAV explore the emotional and physical demands placed on these athletes as they pursue history in HOOP LIKE THIS. A press release notes that India does not allow dual citizenship, which means “generations of elite athletes of Indian heritage have been ineligible to represent the national team across all sports.” Now, The Brown Ballers, as they are named. are the first true “DreamTeam” of Indian basketball – 12 players who have other professional careers, reputations, and identities – but step in to rewrite the rules of who belongs in the game. Gautam Kapur founded the Brown Ballers in 2022. India Rising is the first professional sports franchise under Brown Ballers, and Kapur is the team’s general manager. He provides much of the narration in the trailer having played a key role in the team’s story. Brown Ballers says its mission is “to empower the next generation of brown athletes with both a platform and community that enables them to gain exposure, con- nect & thrive.” WE’RE A PLATFORM BRINGING THE BEST OF SPORTS, CULTURE, AND CON- TENT TO 25% OF THEWORLD’S POPU- LATION. BROWN ATHLETES EXIST ALL OVER THEWORLD, BUT THEIR STORIES HAVE NEVER BEEN TOLD. BROWN BALLERSWAS BUILT TO CHANGE THAT AND TO EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATION TO SHOWTHEM THAT THEIR ROLE MODELS & HEROES EXIST. WE ALSO PROVIDE OUR ATH- LETESWITH UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES TO PLAY ON SOME OF THE LARGEST PLATFORMS IN THEWORLD. BROWNBALLERS.COM — This documentary adds momentum to that aim. Born in the US with an MBA from Stanford, Kapur was motivated by a desire to highlight brown athletic role models that he felt were lacking during his own upbringing in India, Australia, and US. His aim was one of uniting and recruiting the best Indian players from around the world for a significant tour- nament. Uniting Brown Ballers Founda- tion is a non-profit organization affiliated with the team. A May 16, 2023 article on the Tufts University website, notes, “While growing up in India, Singapore, and Australia, Kapur found basketball to be an outlet, an international language, and a way to make friends. Throughout his childhood, the sport became an integral part of his life, from playing streetball to battling his friends in basketball video games.” Kapur, a bachelor in economics from Tufts with an MBA from Stanford, worked on the NBA’s front office for two years as part of a rotational program, where he learnt the business operations, strategy and analytics, content distribution, and player development aspects. “In all, Kapur spent six years growing with the NBA, where he realized an opportunity to do more to elevate Asian culture through sport,” the Tufts article says. HOOP LIKE THIS follows the team to one of the world’s most intense basket- ball tournaments on ESPN, where a $1 million prize is on the line. The 90-minute documentary will have premiered at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, by the time this goes to print. It will also be screened at CAAMFest in San Francisco, and Asian American Showcase in Chicago, a three- city festival run bringing this “underdog story” directly to audiences across the country this May. The most notable thing about this team is that each player leads a double life: an orthopedic surgeon who never stopped competing at the elite level. A gas station owner who was once the #11 ranked FIBA 3×3 player in the world. A Silicon Valley software engineer who plays professional basketball in Taiwan. None of them were supposed to make it this far. “Together, they are proof that the game doesn’t care what your day job is,” say the producers, calling it “more than a sports documentary,” and rather “an em- powering narrative about breaking bar- riers, shifting perspectives, and rewriting the rules of who gets to dream big.” Kapur calls his team the “Brown Avengers of Basketball,” a Tufts U article quotes him saying. The film is produced by Shubhangi Shekhar, Kunal Patel, Pulkit Datta, Zach Galst, Tony Castle, and Roxy Hunt. Execu- tive producers include Gautam Kapur, Akhil Hegde, and NAV. Following the three-city festival run, HOOP LIKE THIS will launch a grassroots community screening tour across the US and Canada, with international dates and additional festival announcements to come. More information is available on www. hooplikethis.com and on Instagram @ hooplikethis. ‘HOOP LIKE THIS’ Groundbreaking Basketball Documentary Featuring Indian-Origin Players, Premieres In Los Angeles By Ela Dutt The Brown Ballers. Photos: Screenshots from the trailer of the documentary HOOP LIKE THIS. Gautam Kapur, founder of Brown Ballers, in the trailer of HOOP LIKE THIS. Above and below: Action shots of members in the team Brown Ballers. Satnam Singh with a young, potential brown baller. Vivek Ranadive, owner of the Sacramento Kings, speaking in the feature documentary HOOP LIKE THIS. Satnam Singh gesturing while speaking on the HOOP LIKE THIS feature documentary PHOTOS:SCREENSHOTS FROM DOCUMENTARY HOOP LIKETHIS