Illustrious careers, controversies and rags to riches stories and of course the intangible love for cricket, Bollywood has been crushing over cricket biopics of late. From Neeraj Pandey’s MS Dhoni- The Untold Story and James Erskine’s Sachin: A Billion Dreams to Tony D’Souza’s Azhar, Bollywood has captured the lives of several cricketers in the recent past and the response has been brilliant.
While films like Dhoni and Sachin did phenomenal business, here are 5 cricket biopics we feel should be made.
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Let’s take a look at 5 cricketer biopics that have the potential to create magic at the box-office.
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Virender Sehwag: The butcher of Najafgarh
Former opener Virender Sehwag was one of the most explosive batsmen to have played for Team India. Having slammed two triple tons, Sehwag happens to be the highest individual run-getter for India in Tests. The Najafgrah-born also has a double century to his name. Former Indian coaches have always said that Sehwag does not go by the book, he has his own style of looking at the game and that is more often than not successful. There always seemed to be a method to his madness.
Kapil Dev- The Haryana Hurricane
This one was long awaited! Hailing from Haryana, Kapil Paaji went on to lead India to its maiden World Cup triumph in 1983. A feat, that was then considered unfathomable. He led a team of utility players to dethrone then-World Cup champions West Indies. The victory was no less than a miracle. What makes Kapil’s rise intriguing is the fact that he comes from a place which was not known to produce cricketers. According to the grapevine, there are talks of a Kapil Dev biopic in the future.
Sourav Ganguly: The Prince of Kolkata
From taking over the mantle of captaincy during difficult times to taking India to the finals of the 2003 World Cup, the prince of Kolkata surely made the world look at Indian cricket with respect. He became the captain of India when match-fixing scandal rocked Indian cricket and the fans had lost the faith in their heroes. Like Dhoni, Sourav was interested in football in his shaping years. Thanks to his elder brother Shehashish, Sourav took to the sport and soon climbed up the ranks and finally made it to the Indian cricket team. He slammed centuries in his first two Tests and that made him a certainty in the side. His partnership with Sachin Tendulkar at the top of the order was successful. His never-say-die attitude surely make for a blockbuster!
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Sreesanth- The tainted seamer!
It could very well be the first biopic on an Indian bowler. Hailing from Kerala, Sreesanth rose after playing a lot of domestic cricket but his claim to fame came when he bowled the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. His on-the-face attitude soon became the talk of the town, when he started using the sledge as a weapon to disrupt the concentration of batsmen and get them out. He was a bowler who was looked at as somebody who could win India Test matches abroad. He was flamboyant and a show-stopper. Remember how he smashed a six on Andre Nel’s ball and then started dancing on the pitch?
His promising future was cut short when he was caught spot-fixing matches in IPL 2013. He along with a couple of other cricketers were found guilty. Since the allegation, Sreesanth has fought the battle and has also blamed BCCI for foul play. His life has all the ingredients of a masaaledaar Bollywood movie, don’t you think?
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi: The one-eyed wonder
It still baffles me how a biopic on Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi has not yet been made. Much before making his debut, he was on a spree of breaking all the school cricket records in England. He became the captain of India at an early age of 21 after Nari Contractor was injured. Despite losing vision in one eye, he never allowed that to come in the way of cricket. Tiger, as he was popularly known led India to its first victory outside the sub-continent, something that was considered to be the turning point in Indian cricket.
His looks, Oxford schooling and marriage to superstar Sharmila Tagore made him a poster boy of the country in those days. His story should definitely be told.
