Bolly Volley

Arup specializes in any job that requires stretching out his legs – whether it is on a reclining chair at the beach, or in the Economy Plus seat of United Airlines, or on the shoulder of the person sitting in front of him in the theatre. And when dreaming, travelling for work and watching movies is not keeping him busy, he tries to write. He lives in Naperville with his wife and son, who are cinema freaks as well

A monthly shower of Bollywood previews, reviews and my unsolicited views

by Arup Raha

Olympics 2012 is over. Except those who get opportunities to appear on TV commercials, Indian medal-winners and other athletes who competed in the event will soon be forgotten. Come Rio 2016, Indians around the world will once again discover the nationalist or the activist hidden within them and get busy deliberating upon how the ‘system’ has failed to promote sports in the country. For now, however, Bollywood and Cricket are back as the most favorite screen-gazing pastime of Indians. I love Bollywood but I love Olympics more. So it was an easy decision for me to hold back this edition of Bolly Volley until the games were over. The games this year did of course have its own touch of cinema in it during the opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle.

As memories of that extravaganza fade into the background, I thought this just might be the best time to talk about sports in Bollywood! The excitement and emotions that lie between the joy of winning and the disappointment of losing is what makes sports so much fun to watch. It understandably also makes sports a great theme for movies, everywhere in the world, including India. Biopics on sportspersons are however rare in Bollywood and so I am keenly following the making, and eagerly awaiting the release of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag – a movie being made on the life of the “flying sikh” Milkha Singh. In spite of never winning an Olympic medal, for several decades Milkha Singh has been to India what Jesse Owens or Carl Lewis have been to the US. The inspiring story of this great athlete, the hard work of Farhaan Akhtar who will play the role and the credentials of director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (Rang De Basanti) are all good reasons for me to believe that this will be a must-watch when it arrives (end of 2012).

While there have not been too many sports biopics in Bollywood, the list of sports-themed movies is not too short. Unfortunately it is not too impressive either. When I look at the list, it is not difficult to spot that sports-themed movies started getting attention in Bollywood only in the 1980s and did not pick up momentum until the 21st century! There definitely seems to be a strong correlation between number of sports movies being made in India and India’s fortunes in world sports (Olympics or otherwise). If only the film-makers of 50s, 60s and 70s had made more sports movies, they may have inspired a generation to take up sports and bring more glory to the nation in the decades to follow. (I also cannot help but notice the correlation between the high number of romantic movies being made in those decades, 1951-81, and the extremely high population growth rate of that period!)

Many of these sports movies though could not avoid the Bollywood folly of turning every story into a love-story, but some of them did and were able to rise above the rest to become memorable. Here are my top 7 movies from the list of Bollywood sport movies (in alphabetical order):

• Chak De India – It has all the ingredients of a archetypal Bollywood masala but in right quantities – high on patriotism, promotion of the national game, Hockey vs Cricket, India vs Pakistan, religious persecution, social stigma around women in sports, national integration and of course a dramatic victory in the end. Yet, it is my favorite -a very watchable and likeable entertainer. And there was no love-story in spite of SRK in it!

• Ferrari Ki Sawaari – More of a father-son relationship movie, but it revolves around the struggle in providing sporting opportunities to a child. Has a fairy-tale feel to it. Funny but at times dark. Great movie that pulls a few strings in the heart. And it has a Ferrari! My son loved it. I love it. Simple.

• Hip Hip Hurray – This might be the first sports movie I ever watched and it floored me. Shot near my hometown, this movie from Prakash Jha had a great story (Gulzar) about the efforts of a coach to form a winning school Football team (or Soccer, if you prefer). I would love to watch it again but now after couple of decades, I might feel very differently about it.

• Iqbal – Producing this film is the noblest thing ever done by Subhash Ghai. One of Nagesh Kukunoor’s best films, Iqbal is a true sports movie that acknowledges the challenges that honest sportsmen face in India, inspires youngsters and has a message for sports administrators.

• Joh Jeeta Wohi Sikandar – I don’t quite remember how many times I saw JJWS. If you were watching Hindi movies in early 1990s, you could not have missed this. It had of course a love-story but it blended with sports, thrill and style so well, and was also topped with some super-hit music. In an era when most stories ended with the hero and heroine getting together or the hero killing the villain, a cycling race for the climax was definitely path-breaking!

• Lagaan – As a sports movie, it didn’t quite impress me as much as it worked for the Academy Awards nomination panel. Nevertheless, a landmark Bollywood movie, it was a blockbuster in every sense of the word. Arguably, in terms of grandeur, scale and production quality, Bollywood had never done anything like this before. Every minute of the film was entertaining and engaging.

• Paan Singh Tomar – A pure and simple sports biopic – a rare genre. An honest and heart-wrenching story of a national champion athlete transitioning into a bandit. With some great performances, this is one of the best movies delivered by Bollywood in recent times.

Here is a longer list of sports-based movies from Bollywood. I am definitely missing a few and would be happy to get more names from all of you. It would be interesting to find out about sports movies from the black and white era (for example, we had some high action wrestling in Dara Singh’s King Kong and Faulaad!). There are of course several non-Hindi Indian sports movies that I have not covered here.

1980s- Hip Hip Hurray, Boxer , All Rounder , Maalamaal, Kabhi Ajnabee The

1990s – Awwal Number , Joh Jeeta Wohi Sikandar

2000s – Lagaan, Meerabai Not Out, Stumped, Apne, Hattrick, Iqbal, Chak De India, Say Salaam India, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, Victory

2010s – Lahore, Patiala House, Paan Singh Tomar, Ferrari Ki Sawari,

Now it’s time to talk about some of the movies releasing in the next few weeks. The 3 movies covered in this section of the last edition of Bolly Volley (Shanghai, Gangs of Wasseypur and Ferrari Ki Sawaari) all turned out to be great movies. Do watch them, if you haven’t seen them yet! The next few weeks’ releases though won’t be as good in terms of quality, but we can’t stop watching movies, can we? So here are a few I thought I should mention.

Coming soon to a theater or a store near you

Shirhin Farhaad Ki Toh Nikal Padi – Releasing 24 Aug. BV Suggestion: Watch it – it is worth the risk. A comedy, starring Boman Irani and Farah Khan in lead roles has to have something different in it. I only hope that it does not turn out to be too funny.

Joker – Releasing 31 Aug . BV Suggestion: Don’t watch it until a good friend you trust has watched and recommended. The premise of the plot is interesting – and it has potential to be a big hit, but it can be a big miss too if the director goes overboard with this story about aliens and a bunch of insane people (in a village named Pagalpur!) .

Barfi- Releasing 14 Sep. BV Suggestion: Watch it – all the stars are aligned. Ranbir Kapoor as the lead actor and Anurag Basu as the director should make a very good combination. The trailer of this romantic comedy, with no dialogues, depicting a deaf-mute Barfi (Ranbir Kapoort) is very impressive indeed.

Heroine- Releasing 14 Sep. BV Suggestion: Watch it only if you still have faith in Madhur Bhandarkar. I have some doubts because the plot is not really new. There have been number of movies made in the past that have portrayed the life of a film actress. MB’s movies, except a couple, have always been watchable and hard-hitting so I hope this one will be worth watching too.

There is no Quiz this time but please comment below with your favorite Bollywood sports movie!

And yes, for those of you in the Chicago area, did you get a chance to see Aamir Khan/Dhoom 3 crew shooting on the downtown streets? Katrina is expected to join them in September. I have not seen the shooting yet, but when Dhoom 3 releases, guess who would watch it first-day, first-show? Yours truly

Happy Movie Watching!

Looking forward to your comments below.