Invoking Fiction in Sporting Biopics in Hindi Cinema

- Bharathan Chandrasekran and Aniket Mishra

Sport in Hindi Cinema

Sports inherently has drama instilled into its very logic with a victor and a vanquished guaranteed
after every duel. Metaphors of war have been consistently invoked while describing sporting
moments, be it the ‘full-blooded tackle’, the ‘red mist’ that players experience,’ or the discourse
of strategy, tactics, and formation that constantly populate how teams set themselves up. These
metaphors of war are used in service of the affiliations and loyalties that sporting teams and
individuals carry while performing their craft. These affiliations are formed by the contexts teams
and players find themselves and can take the form of city, regional, linguistic, ethnic, familial,
religious, caste or national loyalties among others. Not only does sports channel various sentiments
and loyalties but also displays the pursuit of excellence by athletes to achieve victory. The journey
towards victory demands discipline, hard work, team spirit and perseverance among other
qualities, aspects that individuals who are not in sports can relate to as well, considering the fact
that competition is almost an unavoidable aspect in life. Stories of individuals and teams
triumphing against all objective hurdles bode as inspirations in the minds of storytellers and public
alike. The aspects of loyalties and fandoms, alongside the path of redemption through the pursuit
of excellence in sports, provides fIlm with a premise to explore human emotions and drama.

Sports movies as a genre have slowly but surely assumed a pride of place in the Hindi film
landscape. While one would be hard pressed to find mainstream Hindi films starring that posit
sports as a central theme in the pre 2000s era, one sees a concerted move towards exploring this
theme since the turn of millenium. The blockbuster film Lagaan, which we aim to examine in the
next section, possibly had a role to play with the last act of the film covered by an enthralling
cricket game set in the colonial era. But more importantly, the proliferation of sports broadcasting
alongside the exponential growth of the internet has made sport a more intrinsic part of everyday
discourse, enabling it to become a viable theme for Hindi films. Added to this two of the five
highest grossing movies in the history of Hindi cinema are based around sports while a steady
stream of movies with high box office returns and critical acclaim have been produced. Another
significant factor that indicates the growth of sports as a genre in Hindi cinema is the superstar
backed nature of these projects. These stars for a variety of reasons- the age of the actors, changing
audience preferences, and crucially, the growth of sports in everyday discourse, saw value in
leading these projects.

In the following paper we aim to explore the relation between mainstream Hindi cinema and the
theme of sports by analysing 6 films that use sports as a central theme. 3 of these films use sports
as a theme to showcase a fictional narrative while 3 claim to be recreating true events. Box office
success connects these films, but more importantly for the purposes of our analysis, the final act
of all these films revolve around a sporting event. Victory in the end redeems the central character
and serves as the victory of the hero over the villain. What impact does this emphasis on a
triumphant and heroic victory helmed by the male lead have on sporting events themselves when
it comes to biopics? Does this lead to factual inaccuracies, and if so, how do we understand the
need for factual inaccuracies? To answer these questions, we shall attempt to counterpose fictional
sports based films with sporting biopics and try to understand the similarities between them. This
exercise may help us in understanding a way in which sports culture is disseminated at a mass
scale.

Heroism and redemption through sports in Hindi Cinema

The 3 films we analyse in this section to look at the linkage between heroic tropes of redemption
and sporting events are Lagaan, Chak De! India, and Sultan. The first, in chronological order, is
Lagaan (agricultural tax), released in 2001. Though helmed by the then unheralded director,
Ashutosh Gowarikar, the film had been hyped before release due to its chart bursting songs
composed by A.R. Rahman, the period setting of the film in the Colonial Era, and perhaps most
crucially, the portrayal of the lead role by superstar Aamir Khan, who also produced the film. Set
in the fictional village of Champaner in 1892, and shot in the arid district of Kutch, Gujarat, the
film depicts the struggles that peasants undergo in order to pay the agricultural tax to the Colonial
State. Agriculture in Champaner was heavily dependent on the monsoons, the repeated failure of
which puts the villagers of Champaner into dire crisis. During the said crisis, the protagonist,
Bhuvan Latha, a youthful peasant, is forced to lead a procession to the local landlord (raja), to
remit the rental demand. This procession happens to take place during a cricket match played by
British Army Officers, with the elderly raja in the audience. After the game, the Commanding
Officer, Captain Andrew Russell, agrees to the remission of rent for three years if the villagers
beat the British Officers in a game of cricket but if the villagers lost, they would have to pay triple
the rent.

Initially met with derision for unilaterally agreeing to the challenge of playing cricket- a sport the
villagers had no acquaintance with, Bhuvan ends up galvanizing his fellow villagers and
convincing them to embrace the cricket match as a turning point in their destinies. Trained by
Captain Russell’s sister, Elizabeth, the villagers get in shape for the all-important game. It is
important to note at this juncture that Lagaan was not promoted as a sports movie, differentiating
it from the other films we analyse, though cricket occupies almost an hour and a half of the two
hundred and twenty-five minutes long film. Promoted as a movie depicting aspects of the freedom
struggle with soulful folk songs and lyrics, the cricketing aspects were almost like a surprise
element to viewers. But it is through the process of training and playing a cricket match together
that the villagers fulfil their aims and develop the nationalist spirit that was hitherto lacking. The
game in itself was a riveting and anachronistic depiction of the game of cricket which the villagers
eventually win with a last-ball six by Bhuvan. But more crucially, the victory allows for the
redemption of multiple characters in the script. The victory redeems Bhuvan’s unilateral choice to
play an unknown game in the hope for rent remissions. The casteist village that practices
untouchability is forced to reckon with the sublime spin bowling talents of a manual scavenger
called as Kachra (garbage) by the villagers. He is included into the team after much resistance
from the wicketkeeper and prospective father in law of Bhuvan, who also happens to be the village
priest and plays a crucial part in the victory. Lakha, the woodcutter, who acts like a comprador,
shifting allegiances in the hope that defeat would give him money and a chance to marry Bhuvan’s
love interest, Gauri, undergoes soul searching and plays sincerely for his team. Hindu-Muslim
unity is evoked through the loyatly of Ismail, the Muslim friend of Lakha, towards the team and
hence the nation rather than towards his friend. Elizabeth Russell the coach portrays an underlying
idea that all colonizers shouldn’t be portrayed with the same brush.

Chak De! India (Let’s Go! India), released in 2007 and starring Shahrukh Khan in the lead is
another narrative about individual and national redemption. Shahrukh portrays a fictional
character, the disgraced former hockey player Kabir Khan, who faces allegations of match-fixing
due to missed chances in a final against Pakistan. These allegations lead to a life of sporting
oblivion for Kabir Khan till the vacancy of the Indian Women’s Hockey team opens. Grabbing
this opportunity, Kabir goes full tilt in the quest to make the team successful. The players from
various states arrive at the training camp and are shown to be disparate, lacking in team spirit, and
with regional divisions aplenty. Added to these factors were the systemic failures of Indian sports
in providing facilities and funding to its sportspersons, especially towards women’s sports, so
much so that the President of the Hockey Federation in the film casts serious aspersions on whether
the Indian Women’s team should attend the Hockey World Cup in Australia.

After a practice match of epic proportions, wherein the Women’s team comes agonizingly close
to besting the Indian Men’s team the President reluctantly agrees to send the Women’s team for
the World Cup. India gets convincingly beaten at the hands of hosts and tournament favourites,
Australia, after which the team starts notching victories with the help of more cohesive team play
and tactics- culminating in the finals where they face nemesis Australia. In a riveting final, India
comes from behind to equalize the score to 2-2 and stretch the game to penalty shoot outs, with
the goalkeeper, Vidya Sharma, saving the decisive penalty stroke to hand victory to India. The
victory allows for Kabir Khan to reverse all aspersions that he was a traitor- an allegation made on
the basis of his identity of a Muslim. Much like Bhuvan, Kabir Khan proves as a catalyst for the
redemption of the team Using a range of strategies from inspirational speeches to confrontational
outbursts, he enables the team to achieve its true potential. A pertinent example of how Kabir
converts individual rivalries into teamwork is handling of the goalscoring rivalry between his
attacking players. Komal Chautala, the diminutive inside right from Haryana and Preeti Sabharwal,
the posh centre forward from Chandigarh, are intertwined in a personal competition to reach the
goal scoring leaderboard of the tournament. This rivalry was a long stemming one, dating back to
the training camp and Kabir Khan had realized immediately that personal rivalries would lead to
the detriment of the team since the two players wouldn’t pass to each other. Facing tournament
favourites Australia in the final, Kabir knows that this rivalry would lead to their downfall. On the
eve of the final, he makes a last-ditch attempt to reconcile Komal and Preeti, and tells them to play
for the team and not their personal records. These words echo during the final when Komal
Chautala from a goalscoring position, squares the ball to Preeti Sabharwal for the equalizing goal,
indicating team spirit and selflessness. Kabir Khan serves as a symbol for nation building and
through this nation building, he finds his redemption.

The 2016 release, Sultan, is perhaps the most crystallized version of a sports film as a trope for
heroism. Starring Salman Khan, the film captures the story of the fictional former Olympic gold
medalist, Sultan Ali Khan. The movie begins with Sultan going through the quotidian tasks of a
government clerk in semi-urban Haryana when he is approached by a young entrepreneur to take
part in a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) tournament. This opportunity to fight again is seen as a chance
for Sultan to undo his past misdemeanours of arrogance which had resulted in his wife and fellow
wrestler, Aarfa abandoning him. Sultan’s very entry into wrestling is to impress Aarfa, an
accomplished wrestler, portrayed by Anushka Sharma. In the quest to win Aarfa’s heart, Sultan
practices immensely and ends up becoming an accomplished wrestler himself, marrying Aarfa in
the process. Due to her pregnancy, Aarfa ends up missing the Olympic games while Sultan secures
the gold medal. Sultan reaches further heights when he wins the World Wrestling Championships,
but his absence during Aarfa’s pregnancy proves to be fatal since their newborn child is afflicted
with anaemia and urgently requires blood from a rare group that happens to be Sultan’s blood
group. Despite being warned of possible complications with the pregnancy, Sultan proceeds to the
World Championships, which serves as the final straw for his marriage. Since it was wrestling that
brought Sultan and Aarfa close, Sultan chooses to re-enter the field of fighting, using traditional
wrestling moves to oust opponents and win the MMA tourney.

In both of Sultan’s avatars, it isn’t the actualization of a team spirit or larger affiliations unlike
Lagaan or Chak De! India. His avatar of a wrestler focuses on how Salman, the hero, is able to
win the favour of Anushka the heroine, rather than aspects and technicalities of the sport. In his
comeback as an MMA fighter, intangibles such as determination and will power are invoked to
show how Sultan battles all odds in an alien sport. One of the defining images of the film is when
Sultan sees himself in the mirror after years of physical inactivity. Sultan cuts a rotund and forlorn
figure in the mirror and the movie showcases the immense physical regimen he undertakes to
achieve his previous standard of fitness. The movie not only sidesteps notions of patriotism and
community in the service of the hero’s journey but also ignores the technical aspects of wrestling
and MMA, with the idea being that the mere presence of Salman dissolves matters like technique
to the backburner. The only obstacle to Salman is Salman himself and structural aspects such as
colonialism in Lagaan or sexism in Chak De! are not touched upon, with wrestling emerging as a
mere shell to give form to a script of individual heroism.

Factual inaccuracies in Hindi Sports Biopics

A biopic differs fundamentally from a fictional narrative in the way it invokes an audience. For
instance, a sports acts as a premise for a fictional script but in a sporting biopic it not only provides
a framework for the script but also seeks to invoke memories of sporting fetes.
As a genre, they have generally consisted of some factual inaccuracies by dramatizing character
arcs. But many of these liberties deal with interpersonal relations that characters find themselves
in, relations whose veracity cannot be accounted for with precision. When it comes to sporting
fetes, on the other hand, the record books last forever and tinkering with them throws shade on the
sporting achievements themselves. India is primarily a cricketing nation, and this is represented
by the fact India has won only 22 medals in the 17 iterations of the Summer Olympics since
independence. The fact that success in the Olympics is so few and far between, with many of these
achievements dating back to nearly 50 years such as India’s last gold medal in the traditional
stronghold of Men’s hockey in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, allows filmmakers to distort the
history books in the service of dramatization. On the contrary, due to the popularity of cricket and
the constant reverberations of India’s cricketing achievements, it would be nigh on impossible to
distort the historical cricketing record which movies such as M.S.Dhoni prove. In the following
section, we shall present a summary of the plots and list the factual inaccuracies in 3 recent sporting
biopics, namely (1) Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (Run Milkha Run;(2) Gold; and );(3) Dangal (Wrestling
Competition).These factual inaccuracies in our opinion are linked to the heroic triumph
culminating in a sporting event as seen in the films analysed in the previous section.
In Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, released in 2013, the titular character, Milkha Singh, a survivor of the
partition of India, goes through trying circumstances to eke a living in the refugee camps of Delhi
before enrolling into the army as a soldier. During his army training in 1954, it comes to Milkha’s
attention that athletes within the army are provided with a more nourishing diet, and this facet
entices Milkha to pursue athletics. His rise in the athletics arena was meteoric, he qualified for the
1956 Melbourne Olympics but failed to qualify the heats. 1958 proved to be his annus mirabilis as
he won gold medals in the 400 and 200-metre races in the Tokyo Asian Games and the 440 metres
in the Cardiff Commonwealth games. Having defeated esteemed athletes such as Pakistan’s Abdul
Khaliq in the 200-metre race and Malcolm Spence in Cardiff, expectations were high for the Rome
Olympics. Milkha starts with blistering pace in the 1960 400-metre race but tends to slow down
around the 250-metre mark, allowing Malcolm Spence, Carl Kauffman, and Otis Davis to overtake
him, as Milkha ends up with the fourth-place finish. The movie’s central motivation though isn’t
to showcase Milkha’s desire to attain the gold medal but to face the trauma of his past by agreeing
to participate in a race held in Lahore, after the Olympic games against nemesis Abdul Khaliq. His
besting of Khaliq brings Milkha’s life full circle as he confronts his fears head-on.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was a biopic made with the enthusiastic support of the protagonist Milkha
Singh. His son, Jeev Milkha Singh, a prominent golfer, was a big fan of director Rakeysh
Omprakash Mehra and felt he would render his father’s story in the best possible manner. Milkha
was so impressed with Mehra, that he took only Rs. 1 from the producers as the copyright fees of
his story. In interviews, Milkha mentions that the story is 90 percent accurate 1, as it echoes the
tribulations that Milkha underwent, be it the trauma of partition, the hardships in the army, or the
hard work he put in to become an athlete of international standing. Unfortunately for those who
hold the record books dear, the film fails to accurately portray Milkha's on-field exploits. Milkha
is deemed to have broken the current Olympic record in the 400-metres before the onset of the
Rome Olympics, a fact not verified by sources. The final hurrah in the film, where Milkha defeats
Abdul Khaliq in Lahore, is actually held before the Rome Olympics but fits the narrative of a
tortured Milkha confronting his demons. Partition looms so large on the film that Milkha’s
memories from the partition reverberate during his head start in Rome, leading to a loss of
concentration and defeat. However, in Milkha’s autobiography, entitled, The Race of My Life, the
source material for the film, Milkha attributes the loss of his lead due to his decision to slacken the
pace at the 250m mark, a decision which proved to be fatal since he could not recover the necessary
momentum to overtake his competitors. 2 The movie opened to good reviews, especially for lead
actor Farhan Akhtar, who physically transformed himself to portray the ‘Flying Sikh’, but in order
to make the story palatable to younger audiences in a contemporary setting, sporting facts were
thrown to the backburner.

Gold, the 2018 release, produced by Farhan Akhtar, directed by Reema Kagti and starring Akshay
Kumar as the lead, too seeks to recreate a triumphant moment of Indian sporting history. In this
case, it is India’s first Olympic gold medal as an independent nation in the 1948 London Olympics
men’s field hockey competition. The filmmakers during the promotional events 3 were keen to
impress onto the media and the viewers that this film is a fictional depiction of the hockey team’s
successes. Considering this fact, it is no surprise that legends such as Dhyan Chand, Kishan Lal,
and Balbir Singh Sr. are not named, with characters that are ‘inspired’ by them taking their place.
This is further evidenced by the character named Tapan Das, a boorish and alcoholic manager
portrayed by Akshay Kumar. Some sources claim the character was inspired by the captain of the
1948 Hockey team, Kishan Lal4, while others attribute N.N. Mukherjee, a hockey player and coach

1
“Milkha Singh Interview | Bhaag Milkha Bhaag | Talks About Superhit Hindi Bollywood Movie
2013”,YouTube, uploaded by Dayandnightnews
chd,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GThGIlCvLUI&t=405s.
2
Masih, Archana, “Milkha Singh on the race of his life”, Rediff,
https://www.rediff.com/sports/2000/sep/08milka.htm
3
“Royal Celebration Of Gold Movie | Gold | Song Launch | Akshay Kumar | Mouni Roy | Amit Sadh”,
YouTube, 6th July 2018, uploaded by Bollywood Pop,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTaq1HCbVns
4
“Who is the real Tapan Das in Akshay Kumar’s Gold”,GQ, Conde Nast, 14 August 2018,
https://www.gqindia.com/content/gold-movie-cast-who-is-the-real-life-tapan-das-indian-hockey-player-in-
akshay-kumar-gold.
from Lucknow who managed the 1948,1952, and 1956 Indian hockey teams to gold medals.5 The
ambiguity behind the inspiration aids to the creation of Tapan Das as the mentor and motivator in
chief for the hockey team. The movie’s narrative gives the bulk of the credit to Tapan Das for
securing India’s first Olympic gold medal as he scouts players, trains them, and provides tactics
such as playing bare feet in the gold medal final. Not only does Tapan Das prepare the team
tactically but also aids in removing factional egos and arranging the necessary finances for sending
the Indian team to London. With Tapan Das at the front and centre for India’s quest for a hockey
medal, it is no surprise that he dominates the narrative with players getting bit-part cameos. Samrat,
a character based on Dhyan Chand, is shown fleetingly as a player first and a coach later. Similar
fates await the characters based on K.D.Singh, Balbir Singh Sr. and Ali Dara while a legend such
as Leslie Claudius, who won 4 medals for India in field hockey is not acknowledged in the movie.
Considering this is a film that serves as an instrument for Akshay Kumar to represent a leader par
excellence at the determinant of the contributions of the sporting heroes who secured the medal, it
is not shocking that the actual matches played in the Olympics are tinkered with immensely. For
instance, India’s gold medal game in the 1936 Olympics against Germany ended in an 8-1 victory.6
But the film shows that Germany scored the first goal and India responded with 8 goals in the
second half to win the gold. A similar trope followed in the 1948 Olympics when India faced
England for the gold medal. India is shown to have trailed 3-0 at halftime, forcing Tapan Das to
bring on Himmat Singh, a character inspired by Balbir Singh Sr. for his first start in the game.
Alongside this substitution, Tapan Das instructs his players to play bare feet to negotiate the rainy
conditions. These twin decisions serve as masterstrokes with India winning 4-3. The real events
that inspired the movie aren’t as dramatic. Balbir Singh Sr. had already played for India in the
Olympic games, and in fact, started the final scoring in the first half. India dominated the game
from start to finish and ended up winning 4-0. And to do so, India did not require playing with
bare feet. With such an illustrious history of dominance in field hockey, one wonders why the
filmmakers opted to dramatize events to such a degree. In our opinion, the answer lies in our
characterization of sports films as a vehicle for heroism, and in this case, the heroism of a superstar,
Akshay Kumar. Had the film stuck to the events on the field, Tapan Das would not have had the
crucial intervening role in turning the course of the game. Thereby to make the movie marketable
through the use of a superstar actor, the story of India’s gold-winning heroes is relegated to a mere
premise.

The final movie we seek to analyze is Dangal. The 2016 release, directed by debutant Nitesh
Tiwari and starring Aamir Khan, is the official biopic of Geeta and Babita Phogat, freestyle
wrestlers who won medals for India in the Commonwealth Games. The movie, however, tells their
story through the eyes of their father, Mahavir Phogat, portrayed by Aamir Khan. Mahavir Phogat

5
“Indian Hockey Fraternity breaks out in anger just after the release of ‘Gold’”,Xtra.Time,Wordpress,16th
Augsut 2018,
https://xtratime.in/indian-hockey-fraternity-breaks-out-in-anger-just-after-the-release-of-gold/
6
Ibid.
is a middling, heavy set, government official in the town of Balali, Haryana. A former wrestler
who had to abandon his sporting dreams due to the exigencies of earning a livelihood, Mahavir
wishes for a son so that the tradition of wrestling could be passed on. But nature had other plans,
and all his four children were girls. One day, Mahavir witnesses his eldest daughters Geeta and
Babita teaching their cousin brother how to fight back against bullies. Seeing their natural physical
prowess, Mahavir pledges to train his daughters to wrestle, claiming that his daughters will fulfil
the task he had hoped from a son. His strict training methods in the arid heat of Haryana and the
shaving of his daughter’s hair to a crew cut style garner opposition and resistance initially. But
with success in the district and state championships, both sisters end up accepting their father’s
modus operandi wholeheartedly. The focus shifts specifically to Geeta Phogat, who is selected to
train under the auspices of the National Sports Academy in Patiala. The institute was a breath of
fresh air for Geeta, who ends up growing her hair back and enjoying the city life with fellow
athletes. Meanwhile on the coaching front too, Geeta experiences changes. Her coach in the
academy, PR Kadam, loosely based on PR Sondhi, her real-life coach for the Commonwealth
Games, changes her weight category and changes her style of wrestling. These modifications lead
to repeated defeats in major wrestling events with her failure attributed to her coach in the
narrative. When Geeta is at an ebb, Mahavir reenters as her coach and she recovers her form. So
much so, that she reaches the final gold medal face off in the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in
New Delhi. The coach, PR Kadam, having been sidelined, comes with a final ploy to upset Geeta’s
rhythm. In the gold medal match, he manages to ambush Mahavir Phogat to a room in the stadium
and locks the door from outside. Deprived of her father’s moral and technical support, Geeta
initially struggles but manages eventually to defeat Australia’s Emily Bensted in 3 tightly fought
sets by banking on her muscle memory and her father’s training. Meanwhile, Mahavir dejectedly
waiting in the locked room realizes that Geeta has won the medal through the echo of the national
anthem during the medal ceremony. The movie ends on this patriotic note, with the lessons of the
father trumping that of the coach.

Facts pertaining to Geeta Phogat’s Commonwealth Games exploits are off the mark in Dangal.
PR Sondhi, in an interview to the Indian Express7, states that he had a healthy working relationship
with Mahavir Phogat, and they never clashed on training methods. He also claims that Mahavir
Phogat was present during all of Geeta’s games, and no such ambush as shown in the movie took
place. The record books show that Geeta Phogat won in straight sets and not via the 3 dramatic
sets shown in the movie. In the service of adding theatrics to the film, not only is Geeta Phogat’s
dominance during the Games underplayed, but the role of her coach is undercut as well. While
their role was diminished, Aamir Khan’s character shines as the all-knowing, wise father who
knows best for his daughters. Setting up a scheming coach such as PR Kadam allows for Mahavir
Phogat to emerge as a hero, thereby recreating the age-old trope of hero and villain. And in the

7
“Did Dangal get its facts wrong? A fact check of Aamir Khan’s film”, The Indian Express, December 29
2016, https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/did-dangal-get-its-facts-wrong-a-fact-
check-of-aamir-khan-film-4450334/
construction of this mythical villain, the real structural villains that sportspersons in India
encounter such as the lack of infrastructure, sexism, casteism, regional bias, nepotism among
others are sidelined.

Epilogue

A running thread in the tapestry of mainstream Hindi movies analysed in the paper above is that
of heroism. This heroism is embodied by a male lead which is further fine-tuned to the actor that
portrays these roles. The source material- be it real events or fictional narratives, is at the service
of this heroism with filmmakers assuming that Indian audiences are ignorant about their sporting
accomplishments. Instead what is assumed by filmmakers is that the audiences prefer manichean
struggles between the hero and villain, at the cost of factual sporting accuracy. Ashis Nandy’s
1981 essay on the original principles of the ‘Popular Hindi Film’, provides a succinct analysis of
this trope of hero and villain.8 Nandy argues that popular Hindi films are bereft of linearity in terms
of character development. The audience knows beforehand who the hero is and whom the villain
is, leaving little room for a character to be shaped by experiences. This idea bears out clearly in
the plots of the movies analysed above, with the lead characters’ intentions being beyond reproach.
Strikingly, it is Sultan,the movie with the least engagement with sports per se, which shows a
semblance of interiority and self-growth, but this growth is in fact a reversal towards the primordial
goodness that Sultan possesses. In the attempt of biopics to recreate this nonlinear character arc
that hinges on a redemptive aspect, the drama that sports generate itself is lost. Sporting biopics
produced by Hollywood in the recent past such as Moneyball, Rush, and Foxcatcher amongst
others, focus on the very drama that sport enables without resorting to contorting sporting
achievements. Admittedly, these movies may obfuscate team dynamics and contributions, but
refrain from meddling with the events themselves. Whereas in the movies we have surveyed, sports
is merely a premise to recreate a familiar character arc of the male lead.

But it is important to add that though sports serve as a vehicle for reenacting familiar arcs’ the
added impetus of affiliations makes sports movies more topical. In the past ten years, India has
witnessed a growth in interest among sports other than cricket. Kabbadi, badminton, football,
wrestling, among other sports have experienced an unprecedented inflow of funding and broadcast
interest. The Olympic Success of wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt in wrestling and
PV Sindhu in badminton have contributed immensely to this phenomenon. With the onset of this
success and interest, these stories serve as appealing terrains to ground nationalism with traditional
heroism. Jyotika Virdi’s social history of the Hindi popular film, traces the link between
nationalism and heroism from the 50s and points out how it serves as a framing device for a variety

8
Ashis Nandy, “The Popular Hindi Film: Ideology and First Principles”, India International Quarterly, Vol 8.
No. 1 (1981), 89-96.
of stories.9 Heroism as defined by Nandy is met with a range of anti-national actors that reflect the
times. Sports with its heightened media coverage and link to nationalism thereby provides ready
made enemies in the shape of opposition teams as in Lagaan and Gold or lax and corrupt officials
like in Dangal and Chak De! Even though systems of power emerge as fetters in the narratives of
these movies, the resolution of these fetters are realized through individual and collective acts of
victory and redemption in the sports field with sports being politicized to a degree in which
sporting events are themselves conveniently forgotten and what remains are heroic tropes.

9
Jyotika Virdi, ‘The Cinematic Imagination: Indian Popular Films as Social History’, (New Brunswick:
Rutgers University Press, 2003),87-120.