Vikash Dhorasoo, a creative midfielder, became the second footballer of Indian origin to play in the FIFA World Cup. Born in Mauritius to Indian parents, Dhorasoo is one of several footballers of Indian origin who made their name in Europe.
IndianFootball.Com founder and Editor-in-Chief Arunava Chaudhuri had the rare honour to interview the well-known and respected footballer with the kind help of French journalist Pierre Koetschet!
Enjoy the interesting interview...

Arunava: First of all thank you for granting us this interview!
You ended your career a few weeks ago. Any specific reasons why you stopped playing football?

Vikash: I ended my career for many reasons. First of all I was old enough to retire.
I have a badly damaged ankle, and well, the events pushed me to retire: things were not going well in Livorno (Italy). And maybe I didn't want to keep up working to be a high-level athlete.
Now I live in Paris, and there are many things to do here.

Arunava: How is life for you after ending your playing career?

Vikash: It's great! I have the financial security to do things that I like, but on the other side, I have to work. I'm still young, I cannot keep on doing nothing. Working is very important for me. For many years I woke up to play football, and I still want to wake up to work. I hope to work in the Paris city council.

Arunava: What are your future plans – both with respect to football and outside of football?

Vikash: As you may know, I'm involved in the re-election campaign of Bertrand Delanoe, the mayor of Paris. Hopefully, we'll win, and I will work at the “mairie” (Mayor’s office). And I still have many projects: acting in a film; writing a book with Fred Poulet, the director of «Substitute».

Arunava: You have played your club football in France and Italy. You played for some of the biggest clubs in the world, Olympique Lyon and AC Milan. How has your club career been?

Vikash: I'm happy with what I've done. I enjoyed playing football, I tried to entertain people, but that's it. It's difficult for me to look back. It's not like I wrote a song that everybody loves and sings, I was just a football player, and now I'm done.

Arunava: Which was the best part of your club career?

Vikash: Maybe when I left Lyon; Not because I was happy to go, but, for the last 5/6 games, every time I played there was a standing ovation. I am not from Lyon, it's not my city, but when I left Lyon I said to myself: I managed to create myself a life here. And the relationship with the fans of Olympique Lyon was fantastic. They made me felt like I was from Lyon!

Arunava: You played 18 internationals for France and scored one goal. How was it for you to play for “Les Blues”?

Vikash: It was fine. It meant that I was amongst the best players from my country, nothing more. And we were chosen by one guy, so it was quite subjective.

Arunava: You were part of the French national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Please tell us about your experiences in Germany.

Vikash: It was pretty bad…
Haven't you seen “Substitute”? It’s all in it. You have to watch the film!
Off course, I didn't come to Germany to stay on the bench, and obviously, I was quite disappointed with that.

Arunava: How was it to be part of a team which has stars like Zinedine Zidane and Thierry Henry? Were you an accepted member of the team?

Vikash: Yes, I think I was. Selections are all the same: You come, you do your thing and you come home. It's not like a club. And national coach Raymond Domenech chose me. I think that if he had felt that I wasn't going to be a part of the team, he would have picked me. He could have chosen someone else. He didn't.

Arunava: Coming to talk about your Indian roots. Your roots in India are in Andhra Pradesh. Have you ever had contact with your extended family in India?

Vikash: No, I don't even know if I have family in India. Some friends of mine went there and tried to track some relatives, but they couldn't find any. My family is in Mauritius, where my great-grand-parents had come from India.

Arunava: Have you ever been to India? Do you have plans to travel to India soon?

Vikash: No, I haven’t but I would love to do so! That's a trip I'm planning. I'd love to come with my daughters, they are little Indians!

Arunava: You have many fans and followers in India! When we on our website IndianFootball.Com didn’t keep people updated on your progress, people would send us mails and ask us to keep them updated. Are you aware of your huge fan following in India?

Vikash: Well I am now since I'm doing this interview!
I felt that also when I went to England a couple of weeks ago to present the film. It feels a bit strange but I'm happy about it.

Arunava: Have you ever seen or at least heard about Indian football?

Vikash: No, not so much. Are they any good?
They aren’t that bad, but they could be better…

Arunava: Indian football is at a developmental stage. It has a lot of promise, but loads of work is needed to be put in. If asked would you help Indian football?

Vikash: Yes, of course! It would be a pleasure!

Arunava: You have stood up for discrimination in many forms and quite openly at that? Is there a special reason for that?

Vikash: No special reasons. I'm interested in those subjects.
You know, I come from a small neighbourhood in Le Havre. My friends were Afro-Caribbean’s, Arabs, and we were arrested all the time. It still happens to me sometimes, but now that I'm a bit famous, it helps!

Arunava: You made a documentary film at the 2006 FIFA World Cup called “Substitute”. Please tell us a little about it!

Vikash: Well, it's not my film. It was director Fred Poulet's idea. He gave me a camera to film my World Cup trip. We didn't imagine it would end up like that. I was supposed to play. But in the end it was a good movie, and we did it without controlling anything.

Arunava: Will you release «Substitute» in India?

Vikash: I'd like to. We'll have to find the audience.

Arunava: Thank you for talking to us at IndianFootball.Com!