Game On The Big Screen: Sportswomen-Oriented Bollywood Biopics To Watch

From the Commonwealth Video games to the Olympics, Indian sportswomen are making their mark, and the way! For our ladies to bag medals, it’s not only a journey of grit and dedication; for a lot of, it’s additionally about breaking the glass ceiling, standing up for his or her goals, preventing the patriarchy, and far more. Which is why, with simply over a month to go for Nationwide Sports activities Day (August 29), right here’s a round-up of sportswomen-oriented Bollywood biopics which have tugged at our heartstrings.

Mary Kom

Priyanka Chopra performs MC Mary Kom

Directed by Omung Kumar and with Priyanka Chopra within the lead, this 2014 biopic was a serious box-office hit. It highlighted veteran boxer MC Mary Kom’s journey of overcoming hurdles and reaching the highest, and profitable the 2008 World Boxing Championship after returning to the game put up turning into a mom. Christened ‘Magnificent Mary’ and the ‘Queen of Boxing’, Mary has undoubtedly given her all for India. So did Priyanka to the position, leaving no stone unturned to suit into the gloves of the six-time world boxing champion. The previous Miss World and two-time Nationwide Award winner did justice to the position by convincingly portraying Mary, proper from the stance to the footwork. To get herself into form, Priyanka underwent intensive bodily coaching, together with endurance, power, flexibility and practical coaching. She additionally discovered Mary’s boxing type and method, and aced exercise scenes that have been shot in freezing temperatures in Manali and Dharamshala. The pair hung out with one another to assist Priyanka get underneath the pores and skin of the boxer. Reportedly, Priyanka, who misplaced her father earlier than capturing started, channelled her grief and ache into her work. Whereas Priyanka obtained standard and important popularity of her position, Mary revealed in an interview that she had hoped the film would spotlight the nuances of her profession, focus extra on the fights, and present the numerous abilities and techniques she had needed to be taught. She additionally stated she understood that the director needed to take cinematic liberties to impress the viewers.

Saand Ki Aankh

Bhumi Pednekar performs Chandro Tomar & Taapsee Pannu performs Prakashi Tomar
Directed by Tushar Hiranandani and produced by Anurag Kashyap, Saand Ki Aankh is a dramatised biography of the oldest ladies sharpshooters on this planet. Chandro Tomar and her sister-in-law Prakashi Tomar defied patriarchy by sharing a standard dream – that of shattering society’s notion of gender roles – not only for themselves, but in addition for the opposite ladies of their household. Combating each impediment, these phenomenal ladies went on to win 352 medals every of their skilled lives – of their seventies!
Within the film, Vineet Kumar Singh performs an informed youth who returns house to his village to work for the upliftment of his individuals. He begins a capturing vary to discourage the native children from gunning down individuals and ending up in jail, encouraging them as an alternative to channel their capturing abilities in a productive means. Chandro learns that capturing can cement her granddaughter Shefali’s future by securing her a authorities job. As she tries to get her to hitch the academy, Chandro finally ends up enrolling herself. When Prakashi sees the 2 be taught capturing, she takes her daughter alongside, too, to hitch the academy. And that’s how the 4 women begin their coaching in capturing. Since they don’t have the braveness to inform their husbands the reality, they achieve this underneath the ruse of going to the temple or attending satsangs.
Actors Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar should be applauded simply as a lot because the Tomar ladies! Not solely did they tackle the problem of portraying sharpshooters, however in an trade the place ladies’s display success is commonly capped based mostly on their age, they boldly took on the roles of aged ladies. That they did a superb job makes this an inspiring and emotional roller-coaster journey of a film.

Dangal

Fatima Sana Shaikh performs Geeta Phogat & Sanya Malhotra performs  Babita Kumari

Whereas the Tomar clan headman Rattan Singh Tomar, performed by Prakash Jha in Saand Ki Aankh, says, “Mhaare ghar ki chhoriyaan aage na jaave hai, dusro ke ghar jaave hai (the women in our household don’t reach life, they’re married off),” Aamir Khan’s “Mhaare chhoriyaan chhoro se kam hai ke? (My daughters are a minimum of sons)” turned an oft-quoted dialogue from Dangal. This 2016 film ended up being the best grossing Indian movie that 12 months, with rave evaluations for its subject material and performances.

Hailing from Haryana’s Balali village in Bhiwani district, the six Phogat sisters are all wrestlers. Geeta, Babita, Ritu and Sangita are daughters of former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat; Priyanka and Vinesh are his nieces. Mahavir educated all of them in wrestling, making ready them to deliver house laurels and adulation within the sport. And so they have completed him proud – Geeta, Babita and Vinesh have received gold medals in several weight classes on the Commonwealth Video games, Priyanka has received a silver on the Asian Championships, Ritu gold on the Nationwide Championships, and Sangita has received at age-level worldwide championships.
Dangal follows the story of this household, the challenges confronted by Mahavir (performed by Aamir), Geeta and Babita, and Geeta’s journey to turning into the primary Indian feminine wrestler to win gold on the Commonwealth Video games. Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra performed the Phogat sisters to a T, however particular credit score additionally goes to Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar for their portrayal of the younger Geeta-Babita.

Saina

Parineeti Chopra performs Saina Nehwal

Saina Nehwal has taken India to new heights in badminton; she is credited with elevating the recognition of the game within the nation. This former world no. 1 has many information to her identify, and is the one participant to have received at the very least one medal in each Badminton World Federation (BWF) main particular person occasion, particularly the BWF World Junior Championships, the BWF World Championships and the Olympics. Saina is the primary badminton participant from the nation to have received an Olympic medal, to succeed in the BWF World Championships last, win a Tremendous Sequence title, and two singles gold medals within the 2010 and 2018 Commonwealth Video games. For sure, a biopic on this unstoppable achiever was lengthy overdue.

Starring Parineeti Chopra as Saina, the movie was set to hit the screens in September 2020, however was lastly launched in March 2021, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. It traces the ace shuttler’s life ranging from her coaching at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad, the sacrifices her mother and father made, her personal struggles, and her ardour for the game. It additionally exhibits her relationship with fellow badminton participant and former world no. 6 Parupalli Kashyap, performed by Eshan Naqvi, who went on to turn into her husband, and Coach Sarvadhamaan Rajan, a fictionalised model of Saina’s real-life coach Pullela Gopichand, performed by Manav Kaul. The filmmakers recreated about 12 courts to signify worldwide venues at which Saina had performed.

Whereas the film obtained blended to constructive evaluations and the pandemic impacted its theatrical run, Parineeti’s efficiency was largely praised. To arrange for the position, she rigorously educated in badminton and practised Saina’s stances. She aced the serves, drops and smashes, acquired the sportsperson’s physique language proper, and likewise downplayed her personal naturally bubbly persona. Requested concerning the best takeaway from Saina’s life in an interview, Parineeti stated it was about discovering the facility inside to not hand over if you’re at your lowest. She added that if she have been an athlete and misplaced a match, she didn’t know if she would have the ability to return on the market and play, however Saina does that marvellously. Coupled with the best way 2020 panned out for everybody, Parineeti stated all of this made her realise the significance of household, and that they’d all the time be by your facet it doesn’t matter what.

FYI: Shraddha Kapoor was initially signed to play Saina’s position, however opted out later. 

Shabaash Mithu

Taapsee Pannu performs Mithali Raj

Set to launch on July 15, 2022, Shabaash Mithu is a biographical sports activities drama based mostly on the lifetime of Mithali Raj, performed by Taapsee Pannu. Mithali, who served as ODI captain for the Indian ladies’s cricket crew for essentially the most a part of her over-two-decade-long profession, is the primary lady cricketer from the county to have obtained the Bharat Khel Ratna award. She has additionally made historical past by being the one Indian cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar, and third general, to have performed in six World Cups!
Whereas we wait with bated breath to look at this chronicle of Mithali’s life and its ups and downs, and revel within the moments of glory, we’re additionally excited to see Taapsee painting the skipper’s aura. In an interview with Femina, the gifted actor stated she was approached for the position even earlier than the script was prepared. She agreed to dedicate the effort and time to studying the game and enjoying the character with conviction as a result of she believes Mithali’s
is a narrative that must be instructed.

Chakda Xpress

Anushka Sharma performs Jhulan Goswami

If the BCCI have been to institute a ‘Corridor of Fame’ for ladies’s cricket, Jhulan Goswami would definitely function,” says the ICC web site of this former captain of the Indian nationwide ladies’s cricket crew. An all-rounder who’s considered one of many best bowlers within the historical past of girls’s cricket, Jhulan has a number of laurels to her identify. In 2011, she received the ICC Girls’s Participant of the Yr award; in 2016, she ranked first within the ICC Girls’s ODI bowling rankings; in 2018, she turned the primary bowler to take 200 wickets in ladies’s ODIs; and, within the 2022 Girls’s Cricket World Cup, she made historical past by turning into the primary bowler to take 250 wickets in ladies’s ODIs.

In a male-dominated sport, Jhulan has not solely made her mark, however did so by preventing numerous challenges. The cricketer, who hails from Chakdaha city in West Bengal, used to take a five-hour practice journey each day from there to Kolkata to coach for skilled cricket. Jhulan’s biopic, Chakda Xpress, is slated for a February 2023 launch. As Anushka Sharma will get into the athlete’s footwear for this film, she guarantees to attempt to deliver her all
to the desk. We are able to’t wait to look at this one!
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