Opinion The wrong peg
Still waiting for the landmark Indian sports movie.
Like many other sports-driven Bollywood movies,Patiala House was disappointing in its complete departure from reality. It simply did not focus on on-field performances,which are central to sports movies that are serious in scope. And this makes one wonder why an epic cricket- (or even football-) driven film,one with mass appeal yet true to the sport,has not yet been made here.
Bollywoods sports-themed movies tend to focus more on societys limitations,with an us against the world theme,rather than giving us a build-up that looks more at the sport and less on the ancillaries. Sports movies dont typically succeed in Bollywood precisely because of the various subplots attached to them.
Lagaan is an exception,but more so because of the context. That can be slotted with landmark,politics- or social conditions-driven sports movies like Clint Eastwoods Invictus and Million Dollar Baby. In fact,of sports-themed Bollywood productions that used the basic ingredients,Chak De! India was the first of its kind. It embraced Indias unity in diversity,and it focused on the underdog in a Cinderella-story setting. It tells a tale,as good sports movies do,that starts with despair,and ends with a feel-good,goosebumps-inducing moment of success or realisation.
That films choice of sport and gender was an interesting one. Womens hockey has not typically garnered much attention in the past. But this turned out to be masterly. By focusing on a less-followed sport,the movie was able to build on controversial themes and subject matter,while at the same time remaining true to its script and overall theme. There was also limited scope for misinterpretation. On the flip side,the theme and sport,while liberating,also limited its appeal to less than a movie focusing on cricket or even football would have had.
The greatest sports movies are character-driven: Rudy,Raging Bull,Remember the Titans,Field of Dreams,Rocky and even Any Given Sunday. Passion,poetry and prophecies occur with a singular focus: the field of play. All other storylines evolve from this. In
India,a dichotomy exists between the athlete and how she is perceived. This is a problem,because a movie that points out the protagonists character flaws and social awkwardness would be considered nothing short of heresy.
When it comes to our athletes,especially our national icons,we would not be indulgent of artistic licence in movies. Intrigue,sleaze,drama and cut-throat competition tend to be under-emphasised,because our athletes should be mythical figures of herculean proportions.
In Hollywood,sports-themed movies cover varied ground. Some go for Disneyfication of complex themes,focusing on feel-good moments. These are meant for family viewing,and frequently borrow from true stories of redemption and success. Blockbusters such as Remember the Titans,Miracle and a personal favourite,Cool Runnings,dealt with unorthodox themes and glossed over controversial topics/ mature subject matter by turning them into ancillary incidents that only strengthened the resolve of the athletes and coaches concerned.
Another popular approach is to create fictitious leagues and characters,and then build a parallel story around those. The star-studded modern-day epic Any Given Sunday created an imaginary parallel league to the National Football League. By keeping it fiction,Oliver Stone was able to delve into the underbelly of a professional sports league,with racial stereotypes,illicit affairs,drug-use/ abuse and other such ethical shortcomings factored into the actual field-of-play excitement. It was larger-than-life,thought-provoking,slick and provocative. And definitely more humane,gut-wrenching and closer to reality than most other true-story movies. Its impossible to envision any such movie about cricket (fact or fiction) making its way to the Indian multiplexes any time soon. This is due in no small part to the fact that professional sports leagues which act as island havens for superstars are too nascent for the movie-going audience to relate to.
Yet,each Bollywood production requires that the field of play,or the particular event of significance,be surrounded by topics including,but not limited to,colonial hangovers,autocratic patriarchs,religious and ethnic fault-lines. As long as that is the case,it will be difficult to find the perfect sports movie in Indian cinema. Not because there arent enough moments of success in fact,the 1983 Cricket World Cup victory is one of the all-time great storylines.
Ironically,India is where the US was in the 1930s and 40s when it comes to accepting the occasional mistakes of our athletes. No one could have imagined that there would be movies made about the Black Sox scandal,or Shoeless Joe Jackson the legendary baseball player who was immortalised in Field of Dreams,one of the most critically acclaimed sports movies of all time.
Field of Dreams featured the inspirational line,If you build it,they will come. Write a storyline that remains true to the sport and its intricacies. Then surround it with fewer stereotypes and more substance. As India starts experimenting,sports-themed movies too should evolve.
The writer is a Delhi-based sports lawyer
express@expressindia.com
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