Real Kashmir Football Club EXCLUSIVE! Zeeshan Ayyub On Playing Journalist, USP Of SonyLIV's New Series & More

Real Kashmir Football Club: Sony LIV has done it again. After the success of Maharani 4 and 13th: Some Lessons Aren't Taught In Classrooms, the leading OTT platform has knocked it out of the park with the release of Real Kashmir Football Club. At a time when action dramas and spy thrillers have dominated the content slate on streaming platforms, SonyLIV is busy experimenting with newer subjects. And mind you, the network is reaping the benefits of it.

As Real Kashmir Football Club premiered on Sony LIV, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub spilled the beans on playing a journalist again, revealing if he accepted the role instantly or took his 'own sweet time'. In an exclusive conversation with Filmibeat Chief Copy Editor Abhishek Ranjit, the talented actor shared his expectations from the character, also revealing if he played football as a teenager.

Here are excerpts from the interview

1- Real Kashmir Football Club's trailer has created a lot of buzz among the audience. Did you take your own sweet time in accepting the role, or did you immediately say yes to the makers?

As soon as I got to know that it's based on a real story, I was like, 'Okay, I'm going to be a part of it'. The subject intrigued me, and I immediately said yes to the makers.

2- 2025 has been such a great year for you, especially in the OTT space, as you have earned rave reviews for Kanneda and Criminal Justice season 4. What are your expectations from SonyLIV's new series?

I've been really lucky. This year was really good and kind to me. All the performances, everything was appreciated very well. Honestly, I'm expecting that RKFC should take it forward. It should up the game. The kind of story that is there, the kind of character that I'm playing, it's very different from other characters. Again, I try to do different characters in everything. But I hope, and I think that it will up the game. It will be much better than anything that I've been a part of.

3- What, according to you, is the USP of Real Kashmir Football Club?

Oh, it's just us! It's a completely different socio-political, economic scenario. How a football team emerges and how they make a mark and what all they go through.
I think it's a great, great story in that sense. So, that should attract the audience

4- You have a deep connection with journalism, having played the role of a journalist in an earlier series as well. What is the driving force behind your selection of characters?

First, generally, I don't give too much attention to the profession that my character has.
Because it doesn't matter whether I'm playing a police officer or journalist or football manager or whatever it is. I think it's more about the characteristics of that character, how that person behaves. So, yeah, that is there. And then what I look forward to is in characters, especially.

The most important thing for me is the story, and then after that, I think in terms of character. I think it should be different from what I've already played. That is what I try to look for. Because that helps me explore newer things in me also.

5- Have you played football as a teenager? Any fond memories associated with football or another game?

Yeah. So, unfortunately, I never played football. And I really, really regret that. And not because I was part of RKFC. Before that also. So, I got introduced to football properly when I was in NSD.

One of my friends used to watch football and he introduced me to it. And I started watching the matches. And I was like, Oh my God! This is the sport which I should have been playing. Because I was a good player in cricket. I used to play cricket and basketball. And I used to run 200 and 400 meters for my school. And I represented. So, KV has a different competition. So, I was there for Delhi also. And all those things were there. But I never played football, unfortunately. But I love watching football. Now, I think that is one sport that I enjoy watching the most.

Zeeshan Ayyub and Manav Kaul-starrer Real Kashmir Football Club deserves your binge-watch this weekend, if you haven't seen the web series yet. The sports drama is available for streaming on Sony LIV.