A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work – Colin Powell
It’s still a dream for many to get to see their role model in real life even for one sec. But for 8-year-old Mittran Vijey Esvaren, it happened in just a glimpse of time.
This young football player from Junior Football Academy of Malaysia gets a golden opportunity to share the same screen and even play with a legendary French football player who is also one of the world’s greatest strikers of all time, Thierry Henry for a music video in conjunction with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Mittran who starred as the main lead in the music video aptly titled “Be Like Him” sung by Malaysian artist Namewee has garnered over 5.7 million views since its premiere a month ago.
In this music video, Mittran is portrayed as a young boy from a rural area who dreams of becoming like his hero, Thierry Henry. In addition, Mittran also showed his admirability for this renowned French football player while depicting some outstanding football knacks. (You definitely need to check out this music video, even I myself was amazed at the amazing dexterity that he possesses at this young age replicating Thierry’s remarkable skills)
Speaking to Varnam MY, Mittran’s father Vijey Esvaren shares with us his son’s remarkable journey and experience.
The starting point is when an international production team reached out to Junior FM Football Academy and requested their students to submit a two-minute video.
Asking about how the casting for this music video started, Vijey explained “In March this year, we received a call from his coach, asking them to submit a video of Mittran introducing himself and performing a variety of emotions,’
“Not only him but there are a few other players who also took part and also sent their respective videos to the coach, the coach then compiled it and sent it to the video production team,” he continued.
Looking at the video assignment that was sent to them, the production team shortlisted Mittran and called him up for a physical audition along with some other kids. During the audition, the kids were told to act in a given scene and show off their football skills.
“After 2 days, the coach informed us that Mittran was selected as the main cast and the other kids who participated were selected as a supporting cast,” Vijey said he was thrilled upon hearing this blissful news.
Hailing from Kuala Lumpur, this energetic kid was trained by his coach for 3 days and 3 hours prepping for the music video. His dad said that Mitrran only took 9 hours to adapt to Thierry Henry’s football skills.
Then they started the filming for a few days at Kampung Orang Asli Rawang and then the shooting took place in London’s Hype Stadium where the football legend, Thierry Henry joined in the action.
“The shooting location in London was very cold and windy,” Vijey expressed that even he and his wife was startled by the cold-breezy weather and worried if Mittran could complete the music video as he was just wearing a sleeveless singlet for that scene, however this daring kid took up the challenge and successfully completed the shoot without a slip.
“At that moment, I felt very proud of my kid’s determination who raised to the occasion and completed the task that was given to him,” Vijey also said that he hopes his son who is also fondly known as the ‘Ikat Tepi’ boy would excel in everything he does.
Thierry Henry presented an autograph to this young lad and I’m pretty sure that he will cherish it for the rest of his life as one of his greatest treasures.
Vijey also conveyed his gratitude to his son’s coaches, Daniel Wei Chi and Van Hayder as well as his school teachers and relatives who have been a pillar of support throughout this journey.
Upon this unexpected breakthrough, Mittran has received tremendous support from everyone and is also receiving calls for several projects including some international projects too. One of them is an advertisement shooting with notable Malaysian football player Mohd Zaquan Adha Abdul Radzak.
Furthermore, this multi-talented kid has recently been named as the Young Ambassador for the upcoming LaLiga Youth Tournament 2022.
Moreover, Mittran who is also one of the U8 Junior FAM team members has lifted the trophy as Champion for Piala Datuk Seri Johari Ghani which was held a few days ago. (Congratulations team!)
With all these things happening, we can see how this young boy keeps striving to be the best with unflinching perseverance. Everyone should learn this from this boy aka a young figure of determination.
All the best on your upcoming endeavours Mittran! Keep it up lil’one!
Besides that, a huge kudos to Namewee and his team for producing such an inspirational music video.
Check out the music video that our boy Mittran starred in, here;
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