Introduction
In today’s era of globalization trends in film making are versatile, and deal with different type of themes other than typical romance such as women empowerment, sports, patriotism, sci-fi films, periodical films etc. But the overall ratio of sports based films produced in Bollywood as well as other film industries in India is very less and not enough with a view point to promote sports culture in India.
Scope and narrative building in sports genre films
In India genre of sports films has a greater scope to be viewed by the the younger generation for influencing them, developing leadership qualities, motivated them to take up sports as career, increase the participation and most importantly for maintaining the health, fitness and wellbeing. Sports movies can become inspiration medium for in initial time for a raw sports enthusiast, physical educator, medical sector and defense sector, and researchers of sports and physical education. But despite of all these factors sports films do not get the same prominence as other genres for which one of the main reasons may be because the narrative of the film which initially appears to cast a glance at a particular sports but also later merges the act with a bigger social, political or cultural aspect. Most of the sports films address wider issues in an oblique fashion, the ramifications, too, then have a greater indirect impact with the sports being only a medium which may be a reason for diverting the focus of the viewer of such films from the sports portrayed in the film from taken as seriously. However, the impact of sports films cannot be denied or undermined as cinema is huge medium to pass on ideas and influence person’s thinking. Similarly sports films have ample scope for the younger generations to be influenced and build leadership qualities in them.
Sports Genre Films
Movie ‘Lagaan’ through its exaggerated emotions depicts the Indian society under the British colonizers before Independence and how people had to be captive in their own land. It creates emotional nationalism among the audiences recalling the oppressive history of double taxation, exploitation under the rule of the British imperialists. The rejection of British rule by defeating them in their own game of cricket sends a clear signal of modern thoughts where liberty of every individual needs to be respected, hence forming the sports of cricket as main aspect of the movie plot. The film was huge success critically and commercially and was also nominated for Oscar awards.
In movie Mary Kom which is a biography of athlete the story talks about Mary Kom’s struggles, being from a poor family to become a world champion in boxing representing India on international sports platforms and also her comeback after having a family. The film was a decent success critically and commercially.
Film ‘Soorma’ is a biopic of Indian hockey player Sandeep Singh. The film explores the life of hockey player Sandeep Singh from being paralyzed in the lower half of his body to play for the Indian hockey national team and his journey towards being able to represent India in the sports.
In movie ‘Sand ki Aankh’ which is also a biographical movie on shooting, based on the lives of Chandra Tomar played by Bhumi Pednekar and Prakashi Tomar played by Tapsee Pannu, who, in their older age, realized their shooting skills and passion towards the game. They came back in Shooting after hitting their old age and participated in many Championships also and won several trophies.
Movie ‘Panga’ is a fictional sports movie on Kabaddi, giving a very subtle message on women empowerment and aspirations. In the film the protagonist named Jaya Nigam played by Kangana Ranaut, a Kabaddi passionate girl who used to play Kabaddi in her college period, before marriage and thereafter during her service with Indian railways requires to call off her sports career for her child’s health reasons but then, she makes a come back again after 7 years, with the support of her son and husband.
The recently released sports movie ‘Rashmi Rocket’ follows the tumultuous journey of an athlete Rashmi Vira, from a Kutch village to an Asian champion, before she is banned due to the high amount of male hormone in her bloodstream, and is subjected to a humiliating gender test and how she goes through a legal process to earn her honour back. The movie is fictional but is inspired from certain real stories of few athletes.
There are even few other Bollywood films like Chak De India, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, M.S. Dhoni-The Untold Story, Dangal, Sultan, Gold etc. wherein sports was the main aspect of the film and are very inspirational films and these films have been successful at the box-office and loved by masses. Also there are few other films like Saina, Say Salaam India, Brothers and few others which either went unnoticed and/or were a critical and commercial failure. However, if compared in totality the ratio of sports films than these are just a few of the many sports films made over the decades in India till date.
Conclusion
Most of these themes in sports film are fictional regeneration of the events happening around us in real life or are an official biopic. But film being a popular media for the masses it uplifts the entire messages to give it a higher and immediate effect. A good sports film is not only about losing or winning on the field, it speaks about the deep meaning associated with the sports itself. Sports films penetrate into human emotions which results in the positive attitude in the way we think and live in the society hence film makers need to be focus more on getting interesting stories built up around any sports and effective storytelling and also other mediums of entertainment such as television operas, web series should increasingly consider representing sports genre on positive note and try create plots around such genre which may be interesting and inspirational to view by audiences as much possible.
LAWBEES 