Sports films – A prince in the West, a pauper in India

If the name ‘India’ is mentioned to a foreigner, he would either think of Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar or Shahrukh Khan surely! It is because our country worships two kinds of people the most – Actors and sportspersons. Yet, the irony of it is that when a film based on sport is made in our country, it is a troubled marriage more often than not!

One may argue that Aamir Khan performed outstandingly in Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar and his first ever home production, Lagaan which was based on the British rule and the game of cricket. Shahrukh relived his hockey days in school with a performance of a lifetime, as a suave but gritty coach of an underdog women’s team in Chak de India.
And recently, a biopic on India’s most celebrated athlete, Milkha Singh was one Bollywood film which made sense in a long time. Subhash Ghai’s 2005 production, Iqbal was also a box office hit and a critically acclaimed film about a cricketer making it to the national cricket team despite his physical disability of being mute.

Barring all these films, there hasn’t been any sports film which has managed to make a substantial impression. It is probably because of the focus being on the actor’s performance rather than the script, which needs to be dramatic enough, having different genres such as romance, action and sometimes comedy while trying to understand the message being imparted becomes secondary. They also like the idea of David beating Goliath towards the end of the movie, the most by being perseverant. After all, who does not?

However, the West has a different attitude altogether. The reason that they are successful in global sport is because of their genuine passion for it and movies are just a reflection of it. They seem to understand the essentials of sport, which is the life of a sportsperson and the aspects of the game being shown, making it look ‘real’.

The Peaceful Warrior describes the spiritual transformation of a world champion gymnast showing in his performances. Coach Carter speaks about the craze of basketball amongst youngsters. Ali and Goal are the other two names which come to mind, which are indeed inspirational and have been successful when it comes to profits and acclaim. Plus, who can forget the Sylvester Stallone starrer Rocky, which had as many as 5 sequels!

There are easily more than 300 films made on sport in the West and the trend seems to continue. It makes sense for India to ape them in this case, by accepting these kind of movies which are one of the few genres giving a meaningful lesson and using their brains as well as emotions equally in understanding it.