Sports On Celluloid
What is common to sports and movies?
Well at the end of the day, both of them give us a kind of vicarious satisfaction, fulfilling our inner fantasies. When a Maradona dodges past 10 players to score the “Goal of the Century”, we are as thrilled to bits as we are watching Indiana Jones taking on the Nazi army single handedly. We want John McLane to give hell to the bad guys, as much as we want Shane Warne to spin one of his deliveries, that defies all laws of physics and logic, and leaves the batsman looking like a total fool. Both movies and sports, cater to the age old dream of the underdog winning. It is not just Maradonna’s breath taking goals that fascinates us, it is also the story of his rise from a slum in Argentina to glory that equally fascinates us. When Shatrughan Sinha hollers “Khamosh” on the screen, the audience goes crazy, but to the aam junta, the fact that he an ordinary Bihari babu, with not the usual hero looks, made it from a side character to a villian to one of the top heroes, makes for an equally fascinating story.
So what happens when sports moves from the real world to the reel world? Can the movies capture the thrills, spills and chills of sports? More important can movies capture the unpredictability of sports. You know that unlike in real life, in movies generally the hero wins. But is it possible to still keep the tension going, when you know in the end, the hero is still going to win? And most importantly sports is not just about the goals or runs or matches, its also about personality and character. People like Maradona, Zidane, Pele, Kapil Dev, John Mc Enroe, Mohd Ali, Sachin Tendulkar have this larger than life aura, not just on the field, but off it too. Can a sports movie accurately capture the quirks and fobiles of its characters, instead of creating flat colorless Supermen?
Sports movies in general have a standard template, an underdog hero or heroes, who start off at Ground Zero, struggle to reach there, have a rise, fall in between and then again rise to win in a rousing climax. There are the exceptions like Raging Bull and Wrestler, which are more darker in nature, and which look at the fall of the lead character. But by and large sports movies generally tend to favor, a feel good ending, showing the hero winning against all odds. So the key here is to build up interesting characters, tempo, tension, which actually draws us deep into the story.
And this is where Ashutosh Gowarikar succeded big time in Lagaan. Though Bhuvan( Aamir Khan) was the main hero, the movie was not just about him. Its the way that Ashutosh built up the other team members, Kachra the untouchable with his strange bowling action, the Sikh bowler Deva, the hot headed Arjun. Lagaan worked because instead of show casing Bhuvan as a super hero who blasts every ball for a six, it focused equally on other characters, their eccentrities, their quirks, their fobiles, so when the match started, the audiences were deeply involved in it. Also Ashutosh displayed a good knowledge of the game’s rules, by accurately depicting the aspects like no ball, LBW rule, running the non striker out. Lagaan was very much an escapist fantasy, but by combining an accurate depiction of the rules of cricket, along with intelligent characterization, Ashutosh gave us one of the best movies in the sport’s genre.
In fact the genre of sports movies was something not really explored in Indian cinema for quite a long time. There was Naya Daur, but again am not sure, if tonga bus racing could be categorized as sport. And in spite of the fact that cricket was our national obsession, most of the earlier movies with a cricketing background like Allrounder, Awaal Number were utter rubbish. And even post Lagaan, the only other good movie on cricket was Iqbal, which wonderfully depicted how a deaf and dumb cricketer from a remote village, makes it in life. Excellent performances by Shreyas Talpade, Naseer and Shwetha Prasad, as the hero’s kid sister, and deft direction by Nagesh Kukunoor made it really worth a watch. But the other movies on cricket post Lagaan like Stumped, Victory have been downright disappointing. Cricket is not just a game, but a religion, a way of life in India, and just 2 worthwhile movies on it, is downright disappointing. One really good movie which i had heard of but not seen was the Tamil flick, Chennai 600028 which had a cricketing background.
Another brilliant sporting flick was of course Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, one of the best movies of the 90’s. The movie worked not just because of the pulsating cycle race in the climax, but also the way it built up Sanju Lal( Aamir Khan)’s character, from a carefree irresponsible youngster, to some one who shoulders the responsibility of making his father’s dreams come true. Also what worked for JJWS were the human drama scenes, such as the realistic bonding between the brothers, the love between Aamir and Ayesha Jhulka, the comedy scenes, everything fitted in perfectly. And yes the way the climax cycle race was picturized, you could again feel yourself rooting for the underdog to win. One more reason why JJWS struck a chord, was with the class war thing, with the middle class hero, winning it against the bad rich guys. Though i know that JJWS is a remake of Breaking Away, i have not seen the English original, and even otherwise, this is one remake i truly liked.
But barring a JJWS or a Lagaan or an Apne, the number of really good movies in the sports genre, has been quite low in Indian cinema. Most of the time sports has been used primarily to show off the hero’s super heroism, and treated like a joke. Its as if the hero could never lose, come what may. I guess the reason could be that for quite a long time, and even now, India never really had a proper sporting culture. Sports in India has been traditionally frowned upon, seen as something only people who are not so intelligent pursue, so if one takes up a sporting career, it was primarily to get a Government job. Things are changing some what now, mainly due to corporate sponsorship, and a change in the mindset of the average Indian youngster. But it would take some time for a proper sporting culture to be established in India.
Training Scene in Chariots of Fire
The Olympics of course being the world’s largest sporting extravaganza, have thrown up many movies with that backdrop. The best of the lot however has been Chariots of Fire for me. This 1981 British movie was based on a true life story of two British athletes competing at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Harold Abrahams( Ben Cross) wants to compete the 100m race against Eric Liddel( Ian Charleson), the reigning champion also known as the “Flying Scotsman”. Their motivations are different, for Abrahams, winning the race is his own triumph against the discrimination he faces in a class conscious British society, for his working class, Jewish background. For Eric, a deeply religious soul, who wants to serve God, by working as a missionary in China, running is seen as a way of reaching God. The movie works here again not just because of the Olympic race scene, but also the way it takes a look at the larger issue of racism, class discrimination and religious faith. The movie also has that wonderful background score by Vangelis, especially in the opening credits, shot against runners practicing on a beach.
Racism in fact has been one of the distinguishing features of many sports movies, especially those relating to boxing. During the early years of the 20th century, boxing was seen as a way out of the racial and social discrimination suffered by segments of society in US. If one finds that a vast number of boxers have been Italian and later on Black, it was due to the fact, for them boxing offered a way out of their poverty ridden ghetto life.
Denzel Washington in Hurricane
Quiet often boxing is intermixed with racism, as in Denzel Washington’s 1999 movie The Hurricane. The movie was based on the story of real life boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter who was imprisoned in a New Jersey prison on murder charges. The events are narrated by Lesa Martin, a young black student from a Brooklyn ghetto, who comes to know of Carter’s life when he reads his autobiography The 16th Round. He takes the help of his Canadian mentors who are also sponsoring his education, in trying to get Carter acquitted. The movie had some fabulous scenes showing Carter’s rise, especially the use of the grainy B&W footage, and then his subsequent imprisonment. What also works for Hurricane is one of the finest performances by Denzel Washington in the lead role. Even going by Denzel’s standards, this surely is awesome. Just watch him in the scene, where the court announces his life imprisonment, just a weary shocked expression.
Washington deserved the award for Hurricane, much more over Training Day, but then protests against the movie’s innacuracies, and controversy over its depictions of reality, jeopardized its chances. But when it came to darker side of boxing, nothing captured it more brilliantly than Martin Scorcese’s celebrated classic Raging Bull. The movie did not just offer a ring side view of the boxing scene, but also a mirror into the personal demons of the protagonist, Jake La Motta(Robert De Niro, in a towering performance). While Jake seems to vanquish his opponents with ease in the ring, its the personal demons that haunt his life. Most importantly Jake’s troubled, paranoid, insecure nature which leads to him suspecting his wife of having an affair with his brother. For me Raging Bull was more like Othello in a boxing ring, just as Shakespeare’s black moor, fell prey to his own insecurity, Jake ’s downfall is again due to himself. For my own take on Raging Bull, please refer here. Raging Bull also had some of the finest boxing scenes ever shot in the history of cinema, the way Marty uses steady cam tracking shots, the B&W photography, the camera panning around the ring, the close ups of the protagonists bloodied faces, everything is just brilliant.
Rocky was the polar opposite of Raging Bull, it was the kind of movie Hollywood specializes in, an underdog from a working class neighbourhood, making it in life, and winning eventually. Rocky Balboa( Sylvester Stallone), a small time boxer from a working class neighborhood in Philadelphia, gets a chance to fight the reigning world Heavy weight champion Apollo Creed( Carl Weath
The famous Rocky Steps
ers), when the latter chooses him after his opponent drops out due to injuries. The movie again has some wonderful realistic boxing sequences, as well as the use of steady cam during the training sequences. The scene where Rocky uses meat caracasses as a punching bag, and that famous shot of Rocky running up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, are brilliant. Interestingly Stallone himself wrote the script for Rocky, and was adamant that he star in the lead role. While studio bosses were not too enthusiastic about it, as Stallone then was not a big star, he neverthless had his way. Rocky went on to become a major success, catapulted Stallone into super stardom and also went on to bag the Best Picture Oscar. Like any other franchise though, the sequels were not as good as the original, and it slowly started to deteriorate. But from what i heard Rocky Balboa, does capture some of the old magic, though have not seen the movie yet.
Stallone also starred in one of my other favorite sports movie Escape to Victory, along with Michael Caine and soccer greats Bobby Moore, Pele. Often cited as the inspiration for Lagaan, the movie has an interesting story of a group of Allied POW’s playing a match against their Nazi captors. The catch is that the Nazi’s plan to send them back into prison after the match is over, while the POW’s led by Hatch( Stallone), the team’s goal keeper, plot their escape. Part escape flick, part sports movie, neverthless one of the best movies in this genre. One particularly memorable moment is when Michael Caine, is explaining strategies to the players, when Pele, who is listening disinterestedly, comes up to the board, and says “No, let me show you” and then he draws a line along the board, saying this, this and “Goal”. Now i had seen this movie many times, but it struck me that what Pele was showing, was the same thing Maradonna did in 1986, in that famous “Goal of the Century”, when he left the British midfielders and the world’s best goal keeper, Peter Shilton, looking like club side amateurs. And in the movie too Pele shows off his famous reverse kick, in one of the best scenes, when totally injured, he comes on to the ground to play, and then he does that reverse kick.
Chak De India struck a chord in 2007, with its focus on India’s neglected national sport, Hockey. Chak De had all the ingredients of a sports flick, a disgraced former coach, a team of squabbling losers, and the final shot at glory. Where Shimit Amin, scored a big time goal with Chak De, is again, instead of making it Shahrukh Khan all the way, he fleshed out the female team members equally well. I think where Ashutosh Gowarikar and Shimit Amin, suceeded was that inspite of having Aamir and SRK in the lead roles, they ensured that other team members did not end up as card board caricatures. And this is essential when one is making a movie on a team sport like cricket or soccer or hockey, where all team members matter. The reason why sports movies in India, generally failed to catch the imagination of the public, was that they tried to make the hero some kind of superman, totally relegating others into the background. Though the focus was on SRK’s Kabir Khan, throughout the movie, the attention given to the female characters, their egoes, their jealousies actually made us root for them more. Chak De in an effect made a telling statement of feminism and national integration, keeping the focus on the game. And most importantly, it struck a chord with the aam junta, when Chak De became India’s national anthem for a while.
The theme of a coach, taking a loser team to success though has been a favorite in the movies of this genre. Hoosiers has the same theme of an ex coach, Gene Hackmann, who guides a losing high school basketball team to win the State Championship in Indiana. The movie again had a fabulous performance from Dennis Hopper as an alcoholic, basketball loving drunk. Another excellent movie on that same theme, was the Denzel Washington starrer Remember the Titans. Washington plays the role of Herman Boone, a Black American football coach, who not only has the unenviable task of getting the Black and White players of his team to gel together and win the State Championship, but also has to deal with racism and prejudice in small town Virginia. But to date the most memorable turn as a coach for me has been that of Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday, Oliver Stone’s take on American football. The movie in fact was a view of the transitionary fame in American football, where reputations are made and lost on a Sunday. An arena where old heroes fall, new heroes are made. Pacino playing Tony D’ Amato the coach of the Miami Sharks, who has to deal with his new manager Christina Pagniaci( Cameron Diaz), who wants to retire out old players, and bring in the new ones. Pacino is an old school kind of coach, who does not believe in her hire and fire philosophy, and he also needs to deal with a talented, but pretty much hot headed, Willie Beamen( Jamie Foxx), who does not care for Tony’s ideas. For me the finest moment in the movie was Pacino’s locker room speech, where he motivates his players to go and perform. Trust me, if any one needs a bit of motivation, listen to this speech, you are going to get really fired up.
One of the more underrated sports flicks has been Cool Runnings(1993). Sports is often the arena, where things deemed impossible have happened. But nothing is as much crazy about a team from Jamaica actually competing in the bob sledding event, at the Winter Olympics, and that coached by a player, who has been expelled for cheating. It can’t get more incredible than this, because Jamaica is known for its cricketers and track stars. Bob sledding in Jamaica is as popular as cricket is in China. But the way 4 youngsters, from varyind backgrounds, come together, and actually attempt to do the impossible, is worth a watch on the screen. Also look out for John Candy’s turn as the coach.
What i have mentioned here is not a very exhaustive list of sports movies, there are many others like Jerry McGuire, Angels in Outfield, A League of their Own to name some which i have not mentioned. So you are free to put them up in the comments section.
Tags: aamir khan, Chak De! India, Chariots of Fire, Cool Runnings, Escape to Victory, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Lagaan, Raging Bull, Rocky, Shahrukh Khan, Sports Movies, Sylvester Stallone
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
nice post!
but u left out anil kapoor’s saheb; thats one of the better sports movies to come out from india. saheb depicted the difficulties a sportsman faces professionally to rise up, and how personal problems force people out of sports.
Saheb is not exactly a sports movie IMO, it has a sporting background, but that does not define the movie as it does in CDI or Lagaan or Iqbal or JJWS. Its more of a family drama, though i must say its one of my favorite movies of the 80’s.
Ratnakar- quite exhaustive & well written.
Rals- Saheb is a good movie no doubt, but isnt it a remake of an Assamese movie?dont remember the name, perhaps Kenny can help.I think one another movie which deserves a mention is the recent Tamil hit- Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu, a fabulous movie with Kabadi as its backdrop- http://passionforcinema.com/vennila-kabadi-kuzhu-tamil-cinema-continues-its-good-form/
Hey, u missed out “Hip Hip Hurray,” I guess it was one of the firsts on Sports in Indian cinema…It was a good attempt.
One of my all time favorites is ‘Million Dollar Baby’. And that one has a tragic ending too…
Nicely composed article…some other movies that come into my mind are ‘Cinderella Man’, Russell Crowe starrer, a horrible Dev Anand ‘Awwal Number’ with Aamir Khan :-) and Tamil Movie called ‘Lee’, which questioned the selection procedures and the political lobbying within them.
There is also a filipino movie which I saw a couple of years ago..it was about a real-life champion boxer from philippines…very interesting one…his name is ‘Manny Pacquio’..I assume the movies name was also the same…
Of late there have been lots of Cricket themed movies especially in Bollywood like- Chain kuli ki main kuli,Say Salaam India,Silence Please- The Dressing Room,Hattrick,Victory etc but none of these could bring out the passion of the game so well like Iqbal & Lagaan.
Another movie that comes to mind is Ashwini- the Telugu/Tamil movie where Ashwini Nachappa played herself i.e the ace athlete- not a great movie, but was decently realistic.
And yes I liked Hip Hip Hurray- must be Raj Kiran’s best movie as a solo hero.It was one of the early movies made by Prakash Jha.
Now that’s what I call a bloody well-written piece, nice work Ratnakar.
About Saheb, would it not be a sports movie along the same lines of JJWS?…both movies hardly had any sports work going on through the duration of the film except for the climax? I would still consider them both sport movies, simply because the spirit that I look for in sport movies was present. I guess it’s a difference of viewpoints on what exactly makes a sports movie, but it is hardly fair to call JJWS a sports movie and not Saheb.
My favourite sports films (though I love all as much as I love sports) would be Cinderella Man, Million Dollar Baby, Lagaan, and Off Side.
And don’t throw me over for this one, but Bend it like Beckham really worked for me, being a desi girl in Canada wanting to play rugby for all I’m worth. But I admit, it’s a crap piece of cinema.
Anyway, here is what I use as my reference list for sports movies, though not exhaustive and their ranking is a bit off:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/guides/top_sports/
Oh, and cmon, Awwal Number was not that unwatchable…it was Dialogue Writing 101…
Bachon ka khel nahi hai creeeket…muahahaha…isko to abhi tak theek se shave banana bhi nahi aata, ye cricket kya khelenga…muahaha
@ Fruiti Di Bosco
Well genre differentiation can be quite subjective at times, so to each his own. That said i still liked Saheb, one of Anil Kapoor’s best performances. Matter of fact in both JJWS and Saheb, the hero is the family’s black sheep who ultimately saves their honor. Difference is Anil Kapoor is passionate about the game, but has to give it up, which is in a way tragic, while Aamir Khan really has not much interest in anything, but takes up the mantle of fulfilling his father’s and brother’s dream.\
Cinderella Man is one of my favorites too, excellent performance by Russel Crowe, though i dont know why the movie flopped.
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Another favorite of mine is Jerry McGuire, “Show me the Money”, one of the few times i liked Tom Cruise on screen, pretty motivational kinda movie.
@Sethu & Satya
Yeah i forgot Hip,Hip, Hurray an excellent sports flick, and i loved it more being a hard core soccer fan. Raj Kiran- Deepti Naval made an excellent pair, and Prakash Jha did a really good job at it.
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I also believe there was another movie Situm, starring Naseer-Shabana-Vikram with a football background, but have not seen it, so dont have much idea about it.
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One sports flick which i did hear a lot about, but missed out watch was Chennai 600028, based on cricket. I heard it was pretty well made, and one of the sleeper hits in Tamil Nadu.
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Am yet to see VKK, have seen Kabaddi Kabaddi in Telugu, it was fairly interesting, and it again was based on Lagaan, bunch of no good losers, taking on a champion team and winning.
Very good post sir. But i think you should have also mentioned about Million Dollar Baby. I think this one is also one of the great movie on female boxing with superb performances by Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank. Rections on the face of Clint Eastwood after injecting Hilary with an overdose of adrenaline to make her free of the sufferings are still in my mind and that walk after doing that… what to say about that. I will soon write an article on Million Dollar Baby…
Yeah, Saheb is a remake of an Assamese movie. But I can’t remember the name. Watched it on DD as a kid. You can’t get any of the good old Assamese movies on CD nowadays. It’s all the commercial junk now
Some other sports movies i could recco off hand
* Forever the Moment(Korean)- Based on the true story of the Korean Women’s Handball team, who surprised every one by winning the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Reminded me of Chak De, in many aspects, an ex disgraced coach, a bunch of squabbling female athletes, with their own personal problems.
* The Hustler- One of Paul Newman’s best performances, starring him as an ambitious pool players who aspires to reach the top. Martin Scorcese directed the sequel Color of Money, where Paul Newman mentors Tom Cruise.
* Bull Durham- Another great sports movie with a baseball background, starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. Also famous for the steamy bath tub scene between Costner and Sarandon.
Yes Ratnakar Chennai-28 is a wonderful movie and is an ode to the gully cricket which all of us associate with across the country.It had brilliant performances from a cast which was almost new to the silver screen & the direction by Venkat Prabhu was spot on.Do watch it if you get a chance.The original DVD is out on Moser Baer
[~uh~, No downloading link please. It has been removed from your comment]
Exhaustive post Ratna. IMO the article could have been posted in parts, focused separately for Indian movies and foreign ones and divided into sports genre. It becomes a broad domain to discuss international as well as Indian sports movies under one post. I mean why leave out
Colour of Money (pool)
Fast & Furious (Drag raceing)
Tara Rum Pum Paum (Pro Racing)
Point Break (Surfing)
Happy Gilmore (Golf)
Dodgeball (Dodgeball)
Kickboxer (Kick boxing)
BMX Bandits ( BMXing)
Space Jam (Basketball)
….the list is long.
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I missed few Indian movies on the discussion.
Out of Recent Hindi Movies ‘Dhan Dhana Goal’ captures good moments and in my view is a true blue sports movie.
Another gruesome and raw movie on English Football is Green Street Hooligans which though deals more with hooliganism, but captures the passion of Football the game. One outstandingly sensitive and brutally violent movie.
The best Indian film on sports I have seen is Koni (1986), which in my view is as good as Chak De India, if not better. Koni was about a swimmer who made it big.
I wish I will find a second soul in PFC who has seen the movie and could agree with me. Any discussion on Indian movies on Sports would be incomplete without the mention of Koni.
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@ Sethu, Rals- Saheb is not an Assamese film in origin. It was originally made in Bengali( 1981,Direction: Bijay Basu, Story: Ranjan Roy) starring Tapas Pal, Utpal Dutt, Mahua Roy Chowdhury, Madhabi chakrabarty, Shakuntala Barua, Ratna Ghoshal, Anil Chatterjee. It was much more moving than the 1985 Hindi remake. Utpal played the same role of the aged dad in both languages.
@ UH
The post was basically meant to explore certain elements of the sports movie genre, and using certain movies to drive home the point. My intention was to get the people discussing their favorite flicks in this genre, and not very well known ones too, like the way you bought out about Koni. Honestly i would not like it if Passion was restricted to mere listing
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*Color of Money was pretty good, but liked the Hustler more.
* Hated TRPP, it just went haywire in the later part.
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Yes even i too liked Dhana Dhan Goal, dont know why the movie got so many negative reviews, i thought it did a fairly good job of establishing characters, and the final soccer match was excellent too.
@uh
Yeah i heard about the Bong version of Saheb, but i do recall watching the Assamese version sometime back on DD. Not sure which one came first.
I think Coach Carter is also Great movie in this genre. Samuel Jackson gave one of his strongest performance in it.
Very rare movie on sports where team doesn’t win at end
.I think it has very good message in it.
@ Ratna: Of course such topics have great potential to discuss in a forum made for movie lovers like PFC. Somehow I find less discussion on Indian , more specifically Indian regional movies here.
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Koni, in my view is one of the most underrated sports movie. In 80’s when cinema was mostly based on anything but technical finesse, Koni wrenched hearts by the immortal motivating shout from her coach (Soumitra Chatterjee)- “Fight Koni fight”. I don’t think it’s been even made as a DVD.
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As you said, in Sports movies the most identified factor is to depict the passion and connect with the sportsman in the viewer. The hero never loses in a sports movie, as they are meant to motivate the viewer. That compels me to ask this ‘Can a non sporting person enjoy a sports movie?’. In most cases the ‘passion’ parts takes precedence over the ’sports’ part. Is there any movie on sports with a sad ending ?
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Good to know you liked Goal. I find it to be quite an honest movie.One of the few Hindi movies which atleast justifies it’s shooting on foreign locale
@ UH
Regarding sports movies with a sad ending, if you are referring to the team or hero not winning, well there r some
Cool Runnings, shows the Jamaican bobsled team’s race, ending in a fiasco, when their bobsled breaks down before the finishing line. But the tragedy becomes a triumph when the team, physically lift up the sled and carry it over the line. They dont technically win, but their sheer grit and determination, wins over every one’s hearts. At times sport is not just winning or losing, its also the grit and character.
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Another such movie with a similiar ending i can recall, is the Korean movie, Forever the Moment. Again the women’s handball team, make it to final,but lose in end. But again here the fact that the team was rank outsiders at the beginning of the event, and then go all the way to finals, makes it even more significant.
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Wrestler i think has a very tragic ending, and Raging Bull is tragic in nature too, in that shows De Niro, ending up doing comic stand up acts to get along.
“Can a non sporting person enjoy a sporting movie?”
Depends, if the person is a movie lover, and sees it more as a human drama, he could enjoy. I think the key is to balance the sporting aspects and human drama effectively, or what you say the “passion” part and “sports” part. You can’t afford to be too passionate however to neglect the sporting part.
@ Ratna- Well summerized
Now that Indian’s have won some Gold in Olympics, hopefully more sports movies would be made on other less popular sports like archery, shooting etc.
@ UH
Makes me wonder though, how come no one has attempted a movie on the legendary Mohun Bagan-Mohamedan Sporting rivalry, that has all the ingredients to make up a great movie.
@ Ratna- Correction ! The biggest rivalry is between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal and not Mohun Bagan-Mohamedan. There is a famous 1976 Bangla film called “Mohunbagan-er Meye” ( Mohun Bagan’s Daughter or Mohun Bagan’s Daughter)based on the rivalry :D :D
Sorry for the typo, I meant Mohan Bagan’s Girl as the translation. It is a hilarious comedy featuring Utpal Dutt and Robi Ghosh, both stalwarts of Bengali comedy. There’s a scene where Robi Ghosh actualy sells brick bats at a stadium before the MH-EB match begins, for the patrons to buy and throw to opponents :D
Another old Bangla movie on Football fanaticism is Dhanni Meye(1971) starring the famous pair Uttam-Suchitra, also a comedy.
They don’t make such movies anymore :(
Among boxing movies i was surprised to see million dollar baby and cinderella man missing as has been pointed out by others. Just a thought though … The article is about movies about sports. But then this year there have been a a few football matches in europe that have climaxes more massive than what any script writer could have come up with. Liverpool vs arsenal , man u vs spurs or villa or sunderland in premier league. Liverpool vs chelsea in champions league. All the above were two and a half hours of nail biting thrillers.
can “Shatranj ke khiladi” be called a sports movie ? though the focus was on the game of chess ..the movie wasn’t about chess…hence the confusion
There are a couple of sports based movies under production right now. One is Pan Singh Tomar starring Irfan Khan and is based on a National level long distance runner turned Dacoit. Another is 42 KM’s which as the title suggests is about marathon runners. This was scheduled to release in February 2009 but still hasn’t made it to the screen.
@Sudip 29…LOL
A superb post..Horse racing movie “Seabiscuit” can also be considered as a sports flick where by a horse overcomes many obstacles to triumph as well as change lives of 3 losers
Million dollar baby inspite of heartbreaking ending qualifies as an underdog achieving success overcoming obstacles type sports flick
Chak De was the most stupid of these sports movies. Everybody else is made to look like an idiot so that, shahrukh’s character can look like a wise and spirited man. It is not at all realistic and full of bullshit. The only novelty was female characters. Though unrealistic they struck a chord and they made it work.
Brilliant collection!!
I happened to watch another inspiring movie related to sports.. i think there wasn’t a mention about it.. “Without Limits” a movie based on an American Long distance runner.. true story!! Found it real good..