New Delhi, November 11
After years of numerous attempts to bring the world of sports and the world of make-believe together, the twain finally met in the year 2007. This year’s biggest blockbuster so far — “Chak De! India” — was clearly a watershed sports film in Hindi cinema.
Shah Rukh Khan gave a bravura performance as the coach of a women’s hockey team in Shimit Amin’s film. With no song and dance routine, sans any romantic angle, the true-blue sports film grossed more than Rs 550 million in India in its first five weeks.
Even before “Chak De! India” became a cult, Hindi films had been trying desperately to make sports and cinema do the tango. In Yash Raj Film’s big-budget “Ta Ra Rum Pum”, Saif Ali Khan hummed songs and also drove fast cars but could not make cash registers ring.
Soccer will hog the limelight in days to come as John Abraham, Arshad Warsi and Bipasha Basu starrer “Dhan Dana Dhan Goal” readies for a November 23 release.
The UTV production directed by Vivek Agnihotri is about a football team comprising south Asians living in Southall, London.
Given the fact that sports films are watched very critically by sport lovers itching to find technical faults, actors and filmmakers are going the extra mile.
Agnihotri had roped in famous football choreographer Andy Ansah who has worked with likes of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, David Beckham, Thierry Henry and Wayne Rooney in commercials, to train his actors.
Only a handful of films that have been centred on sports or have at least, a remote backdrop of sports, have done well in India.
Prakash Jha’s “Hip Hip Hurray”, Ashutosh Gowariker’s “Lagaan”, Nagesh Kukunoor’s “Iqbaal”, Mansoor Khan’s “Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander” and “Chak De! India” are the most notable examples of successful films belonging to the genre of sports films.
The fact that the central theme of “Lagaan” was cricket was kept as a closely guarded secret till the very end, except a slip by a British actress. Not so long ago, marketers would promote a film not specifically as a ‘sports movie’ in spite of central focus of the film being sport.
The single unifying factor in various sports films is their underdog tale.
Most sports tales are all about triumph and saga of struggle that went into the making of that triumph.
“As a sports-crazy nation, we must have more films on the subject. After all, they have a universal appeal,” said trade analyst Taran Adarsh. A multi-starrer about football — “Mazhab” that reportedly stars Nana Patekar playing the coach of a team comprising Viveik Oberoi, Suniel Shetty, Arjun Rampal, Sohail Khan, Bobby and Aftab Shivdasani is also on the avail. So, the tagline this year for Hindi films must be: play on.
— IANS
