India is a sports-crazy nation, which primarily loves its cricket from grounds to television screens and beyond. However, with India's impressive performance at the Tokyo Olympics last year and in various other sports like badminton, boxing and wrestling at global events, we have many more sporting icons to look up to now.
The reason why we feel so invested as viewers in biopics is not just because they are about a sportsperson's journey, but largely they harbour an underdog narrative, about a person who fights many odds to make it bigger than their circumstances would allow them to. So in a way sports biopics are also about hope, resilience, determination and victory- all things that most of us seek in our lives.
Biopic films in Bollywood, especially those about athletes have undergone a dramatic transition in recent years. While films about male sports personalities continue to outnumber those on female athletes, the cinema scene is shifting slowly.
Biopics on women athletes: the gentle shift
The journey of representation of women in sports in commercial films began with 2007's Chak De! India, but the first women-centric sports biopic that Bollywood gave us was Mary Kom, a 2014 biography film, which moved away from the likes of Paan Singh Tomar (2012) and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) and focused on a woman instead. The film stars Priyanka Chopra in the lead role and is based on the life of Indian boxing champion MC Mary Kom. Her early life, training, and married life are depicted in the film, and we see her struggle to choose between her children and sports. The film was, however, panned by viewers for its casting choices as they felt the lead role should have gone to an actor from Kom's native state of Manipur.
Then in 2016 we got perhaps the most successful women-led sports biopic as of yet- Dangal, starring Aamir Khan, Fatima Sana Shaikh, and Sanya Malhotra. The film is based on the real story of wrestler Mahaveer Singh Phogat who trained his daughters Geeta and Babita, going against social norms, who then went on to bring gold and glory for India on international level.
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It seems that the audience was eager to accept and support such films since they were inspirational and conveyed messages motivation and equality to society. The women here were underdogs who fought society, gender bias, aside of financial crunch, politics on and off the field and many more issues to make it big. However these films were about young women in sports, who were popular names when their biopics came out.
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All that changed with Saand Ki Aankh, a biopic on 'Shooter Dadi' Prakashi and Chandro Tomar, both women in their 60s, who developed an aptitude for shooting much later in their lives. These women decide to put their age aside and train to become professional sharpshooters, inspiring other women to not let their age decide the scope of their dreams. The 2019 film starred Bhumi Pednekar and Taapsee Pannu in the lead roles and like Mary Kom, was criticised for its casting choices as many felt that the roles should have gone to older actors. The film also failed to replicate the success of its preceding biopics.
Same can be said for Parineeti Chopra starrer Saina, based on the life and struggles of ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal, which received positive reviews but perhaps bore the brunt of the pandemic and didn't earn good footfall at the box office.
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Pic Credit: Taapsee Pannu/Instagram
So where is Bollywood headed from here? Surprisingly, cricket has been absent from the women-led biopic narrative so far. Perhaps the low popularity of women's cricket in the country is the reason. Or the fact that apart from the 2016 film MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, most films on the sport have failed to impress the viewers, the latest being 83, which released in 2021. But the line-up for 2022 could change just that.
The upcoming film Shabaash Mithu is based on ace cricketer Mithali Raj, who recently announced her retirement from all forms of international cricket. The film follows Mithali Raj's journey as an eight-year-old who discovers the joy of cricket who then goes on to redefine women's cricket altogether.
Shabaash Mithu, directed by Srijit Mukherjee and starring Taapsee Pannu, would be India's first biopic based on a woman cricketer's life. Raj, who has received the Padma Shri, Arjuna Awards, BBC 100 Women, Khel Ratna Award, and Wisden Leading Woman Cricketer in the World, is the perfect subject for a biopic
Another upcoming sports biopic on a woman cricketer will see actor Anushka Sharma play the role of Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami in Chakda Xpress.
These two upcoming big budget biopics show a promising trend in the film industry of picking inspiring stories of women athletes. We hope that these films are successful so that more of such stories can be brought to the silver screen.
Views expressed are the author's own.
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