These 8 Sport Personalities From India Deserve A Biopic Right Now

Bollywood's love for sports as a genre is relatively fresh. It was probably after the success of Chak De India that the industry slowly started coming up with more and more stories of sportspersons.  The Hindi film industry gave us some powerful biopics on Indian sportswomen. Some of them would include Mary Kom, Saina, Dangal, Saand Ki Aankh etc. We would love to see more of these movies in the coming days.

Here are 8 Indian sportswomen who deserve biopics

1. Dutee Chand

A professional sprinter and current national champion in the women's 100 metres event, Dutee Chand is the third Indian woman to have qualified for the Women's 100 metres event at the Summer Olympic Games. At the Jakarta Asian Games in 2018, she won the silver medal in women's 100m race. With this, she gave India its first medal in the event since 1998. In 2019, Chand became the first Indian sprinter to win gold at the Universiade in the 100m race. The athlete is also India's first ever sportsperson to have come out as homosexual. Confessing being in a same sex relationship, she had once said, "If you love someone, there is no need to fear." Her story and achievements needs to reach more and more people. What could be a better means than a biopic!

2. Dipa Karmakar

Artistic Gymnast Deepa Karmakar first gained attention when she won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, thus becoming India's first female gymnast to do. Representing India at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, she became the first female gymnast from India to compete in the Olympics. Not only that, she became the first Indian gymnast to do it in 52 years. Adding to her achievements, Karmakar became the first Indian gymnast to win a gold medal at a global event by finishing first in the vault event of the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup at Mersin, Turkey. The gymnast is one of the only five women to have successfully landed the Produnova. It is considered to be the most difficult vault amongst those currently being performed in women's gymnastics. She is the recipient of the prestigious Padma Shri and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

Dipa Karmakar Barbie Doll /Pic Credit Northeast Now

3. Deepa Malik

Athlete Deepa Malik is the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games. She also won a Silver medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in shot put and a Gold medal in the F-53/54 Javelin event at the para athletic Grand Prix held in Dubai in 2018. At present Malik is at the top in the F-53 category. She is associated with Himalayan Motorsports Association (H.M.A.) and Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (F.M.S.C.I.). Covering all difficult paths, Malik has undertaken an 8-day, 1,700-km drive in sub-zero temperatures. This required her to climb to 18,000 feet (5,500 m). If a biopic is made on the athlete, more and more people will come to know about her struggles and how she became one of India's leading sportswomen.

4. Sania Mirza

Lawn Tennis player Sania Mirza has won six Grand Slam titles in her career. She was ranked as India's No.1 player by the Women's Tennis Association for a decade (2003-2013). She is the highest-ranked Indian sportswoman peaking at world No. 27 in mid-2007. Time named Mirza one of the "50 Heroes of Asia" 2005. In March 2010, The Economic Times added her name in the list of the "33 women who made India proud". She was appointed as the UN Women's Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia during the event that was held to mark the International Day To End Violence Against Women on Nov 25, 2013. In 2016, she made it to the list of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world. She has made a place for herself among the most prominent Indian sportswomen by winning several accolades. Besides, she has also challenged the infamous belief that a woman's career comes to an end after motherhood. A feature film on her life would make for an interesting watch.

Sania Mirza at Wimbledon/ Pic Credit: Indian Express

5. PV Sindhu

Badminton player PV Sindhu (Pusarla Venkata Sindhu ) has won medals at multiple tournaments including Olympics and on the Badminton World Federation (BWF) circuit. She bagged a gold medal at the 2019 World Championships. Pusarla is the first Indian to become the Badminton World Champion and the first Indian woman to earn a silver medal at the Olympics. The Badminton player broke into the top 20 of the BWF World Ranking in September 2012 when she was only 17 years old. From 2013, Pusarla won a medal at almost all world championships. She is the second woman after Zhang Ning (former Chinese Badminton player) to have won 5 or more medals at the world championships. After Pusarla represented India at the 2016 Summer Olympics, she became the first Indian badminton player to reach a final. 

6. Deepika Kumari

Hailing from Ranchi, Jharkhand Deepika Kumari Mahato excels in the sport of Archery. She is currently ranked the World No. 1 in the sport. Kumari won a gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth games in the women's individual recurve event. At the 2021 Paris World Cup, she won a record 3 gold medals. Kumari qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. There she competed in the Women's Individual and Women's team events, finishing in eighth place in the latter. In 2012, she was conferred the Arjuna Award. She was honoured with FICCI Sportsperson of the Year Award in 2014. The Government of India awarded her the civilian honour of the Padma Shri in 2016.

7. Jhulan Goswami

Cricketer Jhulan Goswami made her international debut in 2002 at the age of 19 in a one-day International match against England in Chennai. She is regarded as one of the greatest female fast bowler of all time and also one of the fastest bowlers in the history of women's cricket. Goswami won the ICC Women's Player of the Year award in 2007 and in 2011, she won the M.A. Chidambaram trophy for Best Women's Cricketer. In Jan 2016, she ranked first in the ICC Women's ODI bowling rankings. She is the highest wicket taker in Women's One Day International cricket. An Indian postage stamp was issued in her honour in April 2018.

8. Smriti Mandhana

Concluding the list of Indian sportswomen who deserve a biopic is Smriti Mandhana, who the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) titled as the Best Women's International Cricketer in 2018. The same year, the International Cricket Council (ICC) awarded her with the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Award for the best female cricketer of the year. At the same time, the ICC named her the ODI Player of the Year.