Epic sports drama highlights Indian golfer's life on big screen

Cape Town-based Little L.A. Productions has announced it has begun packaging its first major feature film project, "Papwa, The Making of a Legend", courtesy of a screenplay by Cape Town writer, Paul Ian Johnson. Through this production the winning exploits of legendary South African Indian golfer, Papwa Sewgolum are set to be immortalised on the big screen.

Sewgolum was an illiterate Durban caddy who, having never had a golf lesson in his life, set the golf world alight in the 1960s with a spectacular series of wins against some of the world's top players. Prevented by the apartheid government from playing against white golfers in local competition, he was assisted by a white businessman, Graham Wulff, who entered him in a series of European tour events.

Using an unusual reverse-grip, Papwa racked up historic wins on the European circuit, becoming the first black South African to win an international golf tournament, the first golfer to win three Dutch Opens and the first reverse-grip golfer to win multiple titles.

Harassed after beating Gary Player

Included in the 1963 Natal Open, he won, beating then South African champion, Harold Henning. On a stormy day, because of apartheid laws, the presentation was not able to be done in the Whites Only clubhouse as it normally would have been. Pictures of Papwa receiving his trophy in driving rain caused outrage around the world, becoming one of the iconic images of the apartheid era. When Papwa beat South African grand-slam major winner, Gary Player in the 1965 Natal Open, he ignited a period of harassment and banning by the apartheid government which culminated in the withdrawal of his passport, effectively ending his golf career and livelihood.

Papwa's story was first highlighted in the 2005 documentary, "Papwa: The Lost Dream of a South African Golfing Legend", produced by Little L.A. Productions partners, Rafiq Samsodien and Joel Prince. Since then, the pair have worked closely with the late Sewgolum's family to develop the feature film project.

"Our critical requirement was to land a screenwriter who could deliver the story as a powerful and epic sports drama," said Samsodien. "Paul was our first choice from the start but his crowded schedule meant we had to wait a while to pin him down." According to Prince, it's a wait that proved worthwhile. "Paul gave us a first draft that had us crying and a second draft that had us cheering. It speaks for itself that the script has generated immediate interest from top talent who have been invited to read it."