Bollywood on the cricket pitch

The fours and sixes depicted through cinema

Entertainment

April 27, 2019

/ By / Kolkata



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Cinema and cricket are the two most entertaining activities among Indians. When both are brought together the result is sheer entertainment. With the World Cup just a month away, here is a look at few of the Bollywood movies based on cricket.

Cricket is the most popular and most watched sport in India, in comparison to other sports. Even a globally conducted market research by International Cricket Council (ICC) has asserted that cricket has over one billion fans globally with the Indian sub-continent alone comprising 90 pc of them. Bollywood has also tapped into the frenzy surrounding cricket and has produced movies with cricket as their themes and also a few biopics on cricketers. Many movies even had sequences with cricket matches in them if not completely based on them showing the involvement of cricket in people’s lives in India.

Cricket has been recurring theme in Bollywood and the first movie to have it as a theme was Love Marriage (1959) with the lead as a star cricket player followed by All Rounder (1984) that highlighted the struggles of an upcoming cricketer. Awwal Number (1990) a sports action movie saw Aamir Khan play a cricketer even before Lagaan (Taxation).

Lagaan (2001)

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One of the most impactful cricket movie in Bollywood

Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan can undoubtedly be said to be most iconic Bollywood movie based on cricket with a group of villagers coming together, teaching themselves to play cricket to defeat the well-trained British at their own game to be exempted off their taxes. With a melodious score and an Academy nomination, it can be said to be the most impactful cricket movie of India.

Iqbal (2005)

Directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, Iqbal is a coming-of-age sports movie with the story of a cricket obsessed deaf and mute boy who fights against all odds to fulfil his dream of playing for the nation. The movie is inspiring and motivating and has Kapil Dev in a cameo role.

Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii (2007)

The movie had an interesting plot of a 13 year old orphan acquiring the bat Kapil Dev used in the 1983 World Cup, leading him to become the youngest player at international level with his ‘magic bat’. It follows the strings of events following his success and the loss of the ‘magic bat’.

Jannat (2008)

This Emraan Hashmi starrer movie dealt with the darker side of the cricket world with the lead as a small-time gambler involved in betting. It had match-fixing and cricket-betting as its main themes and showed the convoluted and unethical aspects that haunted the game of cricket for decades.

Dil Bole Hadippa (2009)

Rani Mukherjee’s comeback movie Dil Bole Hadippa had her disguising as a man so that she could fulfill her dreams of playing cricket at national level. What follows next is a comedy of errors due to the deception.

Ferrari Ki Sawari (2012)

The movie delves into the intricacies of relations through cricket

The movie delves into the intricacies of relations through cricket

The Vidhu Vinod Chopra script tells the story of a simple family trying to realise the dreams of the youngest member while showing the intricacies of the relationships in a family. It is an emotional watch which also displays the bitter side of the sports.

Kai Po Che (2013)

An adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s The Three Mistakes of my Life, this movie has cricket as one of its focus along with religion and politics. Sushant Singh Rajput plays a struggling district-level cricketer and opens a cricket academy along with his friends.

Azhar (2016)

This is a biopic on the life of former national team captain Mohammad Azharuddin and had Emraan Hashmi in the lead role. It portrayed the career and life of the captain who was dropped due to match fixing charges.

M.S.Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016)

Sports biopics are at an all-time high

Sports biopics are at an all-time high

This successful biopic on the life of the most successful skipper of the Indian cricket team saw Sushant Singh Rajput in the lead role as M S Dhoni. It chronicles the life of Dhoni from his young age to his achievements as a captain.

Sachin: A Billion Dreams (2017)

More of a documentary than a commercial movie, this film follows the real life moments and journey of Sachin Tendulkar, from the first time he started playing till his retirement. It made all the cricket fans nostalgic with its elements.

An upcoming sports drama titled 83 is slotted to release in 2020 which will reprise the 1893 Cricket World Cup won by India.

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