New Delhi: Crickets and cinema buffs have many biopics to root for this year. On one hand, we have stories of lesser known people like Sarabjit (an Indian citizen who died in Pakistani prison), Dangal (the tale of Mahavir Singh Phogat who fought norms to make his daughters wrestlers), and on the other there are movies based on star cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The release of the teaser of Sachin’s movie, ‘Sachin- A Billion Dreams’, today brought the Internet to a standstill. Fans of the ‘God’ (which at large spans the entire nation) would get to see Sachin act in the movie and narrate his extraordinary journey. The makers of the film have asserted that it is more a feature film than it is a biopic. To lend a genuine touch to the movie, the makers collaborated with cricket boards across the globe to get hands on unseen footage of Sachin playing. The film aims at telling the less-known incidents of Sachin’s life. It might lack a star, but Sachin: A Billion Dreams has the God himself, something which is enough to draw footfalls at theatres. The film is helmed by award-winning director James Erskine.
Moving beyond Sachin, Bollywood this year is all set to open discussions on topics like match-fixing and patriotism. Producer Ekta Kapoor’s Azhar starring Emraan Hashmi is a movie on the life of the most controversial cricket captain, Mohammad Azharuddin. In a nation like India where cricket is a religion, match-fixing is seen as nothing less than treachery. It is a bid to speak about all, starting from setting world records that are yet to be broken, to getting embroiled in the first-ever match-fixing scandal the country witnessed.
Directed by Tony D’ Souza, Azharuddin’s insurmountable highs and tremendous lows will surely make this movie content rich. Not only for Azhar, the forgotten cricketer, this movie is equally important for Emraan too. Emraan’s last commercially successful movie was Raaz 3 (2012) and since then, most of his films have proven a dud at the box-office. This makes May 13 a really important date for Emraan and Azharuddin.
Yet another biopic on a cricket captain is set to hit theatres this year. ‘M.S. Dhoni - The Untold Story’ has already become one of the most highly-anticipated movies. To perfect his role of the star skipper, Sushant Singh Rajput went through a lot of transformation. The tagline of the film says ‘The man you know, the journey you don’t’, which makes the motive of the makers quite clear. An inspiration for millions, Dhoni’s rise from a small town boy to Captain Cool on whose shoulders lie the dreams of millions of Indians, is what might help this film rake mullahs at the box-office. The movie is directed by Neeraj Pandey of ‘Special 26’ fame and will release on September 2.
All three of movies narrate the journey of three star cricketers. From struggles to stardom and scandals, these are sure to treat the movie buffs. It will be worth seeing whose story clicks with the audiences more. Only time will tell.
