Sachin: A Billion Dreams, a film based on the life of Sachin Tendulkar hit the theatres on May 26. The docu-feature envisages the personal experiences shared by the batting legend that is unknown to his fans in the 2 hour-20 minute long film. Till now, the James Erskine directorial had reportedly earned a whopping Rs 27 crore. Ever since the much-awaited film released, the 44-year-old Bharat Ratna awardee has been showered with praises from everywhere—not only the cricketers but also the Bollywood celebrities held the film in high regard.
While the film earned mostly positive reviews from the critics, here are few questions that need to be answered. We felt that Sachin just shied away from speaking elaborately on those topics that might have sparked a new controversy.
1. Did friendship turn sour?
Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli shared a world record partnership of an unbeaten 664 runs while playing for Shardashram Vidya Mandir against St Xavier’s during Harris Shield tournament in 1988. The film mentions the historical stint between both the teenager who later played for India. Shockingly, Sachin did not speak anything about his friendship with Kambli, who played 17 Tests and 104 one-day internationals (ODI) for India. In 2013, Kambli had expressed his agony over not being mentioned in Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement speech and being uninvited at his farewell party.
“Him not mentioning me in his farewell speech or not giving me an invitation though I have been a part of his life since he was 10 years old. Yes, I won’t deny the fact that it did hurt me a lot because he forgot to mention that,” Kambli told The Indian Express four years ago. However, the former cricketer shared an emotional picture of him with Sachin after the movie was released.
@sachin_rt .Dear Master Blaster.I Love You pic.twitter.com/DAAcgT0ka7
— VINOD KAMBLI (@vinodkambli349) May 27, 2017
We think the Master Blaster should have spoken something about his friendship with Kambli rather than just making him appear in cameos in the film.
No dressing room secrets?
Sachin Tendulkar shared the dressing room with the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman for most parts of his 24-year long illustrious career. However, he did not speak anything about his teammates who were a part of the Big 5. Sehwag did heap praises on the batting legend, recalling the days when both the stalwarts opened innings for India. It should be mentioned that Sachin and Sehwag opened for India in 93 innings, amassing 3,919 runs that include a massive 12-century stand.
Plus, Sachin never mentioned anything about Ganguly and Dravid with whom he shared a majority of match-winning partnerships on the 22-yard strip.
Power struggle
In the early stages of his career, Sachin mostly played under the captaincy of Mohammad Azharuddin. The batting icon revealed that his appointment as India’s captain did not go down well with his predecessor. We wished Sachin had spoken more on the issue.
Also read: Sachin’s daughter Sara Tendulkar reveals her favourite scene from Sachin: A Billion Dreams
Match-fixing scandal
The match-fixing scandal shook the world of cricket in 2000. Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar were among the cricketers implicated in the case. Sachin did bring up the controversy in the film, but clearly said he had no proof of their former teammates being involved in the issue.
Sachin as God
Prior to the release of the film, Sachin had said he had long discussions with the makers on what experiences he wanted to share. The docu-feature leaves no stone unturned to glorify the protagonist in the best way possible. Sachin’s conceding captaincy after a horrid run in the early 2000s is projected to put him on a high pedestal. It does not delve on the fact that under his leadership, India won four Tests out of 25 and 23 ODIs out of 73 matches. Plus, he also did not mention anything about the Monkeygate controversy in the 2007-08 tour of Australia—and also the form slump after the tennis elbow injury, mentioned in a heroic reference to him. Most importantly, Sachin also refrained from talking about the Ferrari tax evasion controversy.
Had Sachin not refrained from speaking on these issues, Sachin: A Billion Dreams would have been a brilliant movie.
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