For the love of true, inspiring stories
Of late, the biopic bug has bitten Bollywood. From sports personalities and politicians to silver screen actors, Indian cinema has been tracing the lives of many.
The present culture of Bollywood biographical films owes its outset to the 1910s, when director Dadasaheb Phalke came up with his feature film Raja Harishchandra in 1913. Biopics like Bandit Queen (1994), Sardar (1994), Gandhi (1982), and many others followed. Today, biopics are making huge profits at the box office and audience is increasingly appreciating real-life stories.
Moving away from cliched romantic movies, 2016-17 saw the release of many biographical films like M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2017), Sanju (2018), The Ghazi Attack (2017), Sachin: a billion dreams (2017), and more; and 2018 is even more jam-packed with biopics.
Soorma
Soorma is the story of Sandeep Singh – the Indian field hockey player and ex-captain of the Indian national hockey team. The story revolves around how Singh’s life changed when he was accidently gunshot in a train in 2006 that left him paralysed. With the tagline ‘The Greatest Comeback Story of the Hockey Legend Sandeep Singh’, the film portrays how Singh got back on his feet and made a comeback to international hockey in 2008 fighting against odds. India won the 2009 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup under his captaincy and also qualified for the 2012 Olympics. To be released on July 13, the film stars Diljit Dosanjh and Tapsee Pannu in lead roles.
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
The upcoming film Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi will depict the story of Rani Laxmibai (birth name Manikarnika) – queen of the state of Jhansi (North India), who is remembered as a symbol of resistance to the British rule in India. The film is scheduled for release in August 2018 and is directed by Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi, who is known for his works both in Bollywood and Indian regional cinema. Manikarnika will see actress Kangana Ranaut play the role of Rani Laxmibai.
Gold
Director Reema Kagti is back with another mainstream commercial film. Gold is a sports drama starring actors Akshay Kumar, Kunal Kapoor and Mouni Roy in the lead. A fictional story set on the backdrop of true events about India winning its first gold medal in field hockey as a free nation in the 1948 summer Olympics, the film is expected to release on August 15 this year.
Shakeela
Actress Richa Chadha will be seen playing the role of Shakeela in her biopic. Shakeela is a 1990s’ actress from Kerala who acted in several adult films in languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. The film will roll on floors by the end of 2018.
This is not all. There are more in the pipeline, including films on ace badminton player Saina Nehwal, Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the founder of Super30 coaching programme Anand Kumar, Olympic silver medalist badminton player P. V. Sindhu, first woman of Indian origin in space Kalpana Chawla, and many more.
