Love You Messi, a Kalbi-language indie feature from India’s Roola Roola Entertainment, has appointed UK-based Hong Kong creator Hiu Man Chan as executive producer following a co-production meeting at the India Pavilion during Cannes Film Market.
Chan will oversee the project’s international packaging and be responsible for sales, festival strategy, distribution and marketing across markets outside of India, operating through the UK.
Directed by Kanjan Kishore Nath and produced by Ranjit Theron, “Love You Messi” will be the duo’s second feature film together in the Karbi language, after “The Lost Way” (2025). The film is currently in production, with parts already shot during Lionel Messi’s visit to India in December last year.
Set in a remote hill village in northeastern India, this story tells the story of eight-year-old Rang, a Karbi boy with one passion: football, and his idol is Messi. He watches Messi matches on his neighborhood TV and tracks down every photo of Messi he can find. When Ran adopts an abandoned puppy and names him “Tun Tun,” the dog becomes his reliable companion. The story changes when Ran learns that Messi will be playing a friendly in Mumbai, thousands of kilometers away from his village, and an unexpected road trip begins for the boy and his dog.
“If you think ‘Love You Messi’ is a movie about football (soccer) or Lionel Messi, you’re wrong,” Nas told Variety. “This is not really a story about football, nor is it about Messi alone. At its heart, this film is about the passion of a disabled child and his desire to discover a world far beyond the confines of a small village. It’s a story about love, compassion, humanity and the courage to follow your dreams against all odds.”
“I want to tell this story against the backdrop of the breathtaking landscapes of the Karbi Anglong hills, where life moves with its own rhythm and beauty flourishes in different forms,” he added.
“Despite Messi’s absence during the tour to the special region, there are so many Messi fans in my hometown of Hong Kong,” says Chan. “This film will appeal to a city with an immediate audience. As a Messi fan myself, I am really happy to be on board and executive produce this project. I hope that my European network and dynamic approach to the international market will help this project reach as far as possible.”
Nath won the Rajat Kamal Award at the National Film Awards of India in 2020 for his short story ‘Katchichinitu’ (The Boy with a Gun). He holds a master’s degree in mass communication from Rajiv Gandhi University and studied film production at Zee Institute of Media Arts, Mumbai.
The production aims to complete filming by the end of the year.
