A sporting turn
The focus Olympic Games and medals has revived Bollywood’s interest in sports-based films
Talking of Ganguly biopic, director Srijit Mukerji, who had started talks with the former Team India captain is in discussions with various producers
Around the time the Olympics buzz began, many filmmakers decided to start projects on sports, or revive old ones, realising that audiences were keen on the subject.
In step with this trend, filmmakers Nitesh Tiwari and Ashwini Iyer Tiwari joined hands to direct a project on tennis legends Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes. The docudrama called Breakpoint is slated to be released on an OTT platform. The project, planned a yearand-a-half ago, was completed earlier this week.
Another tennis star — Sania Mirza — will soon have a biopic too — the rights have been acquired by prolific film producer Ronnie Screwvala. The film has been in the planning for the past two years, but interest was revived during the Olympic season, though Sania bowed out of the tournament early.
Screwvala has also renewed his interest in the Dhyan Chand biopic to be directed by Abhishek Chaubey of Ishqiya fame.
While Sania had said she would like Parineeti Chopra to portray her, the actress, who played the title role in the biopic Saina, says playing a sportsperson isn’t easy. “I remember going to the badminton court and watching these young children play, and I realised that I was woefully short. It took me almost a yearand-a-half to hold the racquet properly,” she reminisces.
Describing boxing as a demanding sport, Farhan, who essayed a boxer in Toofan, says. “It is very demanding. Apart from the physical side, it is also taxing mentally. I had to learn and internalise and be absolutely naturalised in the discipline of boxing in 7-8 months — that did demand a lot. I would get exhausted often in the beginning, and had to lie down to catch my breath many times. But we do all that because it excites us. At no point did I feel that I took on too much.” Producer Amit Agarwal, who bankrolled the MS Dhoni biopic by Neeraj Pandey starring the late Sushant Singh Rajput, says that the Olympic fever acted like adrenaline to filmmakers.
“It is also a fact that our nation has become health conscious. People are considering sports icons as role models and want to know more about them for inspiration and motivation.
Another story though cricket fictional has been planned with Rajkummar Rao and Janhvi Kapoor essaying lead roles. It will be directed by Sharan Sharma of Gunjan Saxena fame. Anushka Sharma too is slated to start filming her Jhulan Goswami biopic Chakdaha Express soon
Filmmakers are thus taking this new trend of sport films as an opportunity not only to present the lives of iconic personalities, but also for successful entertainment ventures,” Aggarwal says, while noting that keeping true to the original while entertaining the audience is not an easy task.
There are some cricket films in the offing. While 83 on the Cricket World Cup win in 1983 starring Ranveer Singh will be released soon, a docudrama by Abhinay Deo featuring Sourav Ganguly is awaiting release. “The film is called Doosra. I made it as a half-documentary, half-feature. We will release it soon,” says Deo.
Interestingly, if there was a torchbearer for Bollywood at the Olympics it would be Taapsee Pannu. The actress, who plays a sprinter in the upcoming Rashmi Rocket and Mithali Raj in Shabash Mithu, has already essayed a hockey player in Soorma and a shooter in Saand Ki Aankh