sports movies

lots of movies have been made on the theme of sports. though all of them have their own great moments, but most of them fail to excel either because of weak direction or weak script (e.g. excess focus on the sport resulting in disinterest of those who don't understand much of sports). here is a pick of 5 sports movies which have touched me in some way or the other.

1. jo jeeta wohi sikandar: i can really write for hours about this movie. i think if any movie comes close to "sholay" in being a complete movie in recent years, this has to be the one. friendship, love, songs, dances, action, teenage crush: it had all. but one thing that came out on top was the sporting spirit. this movie was loved by people of all ages simply because everyone could relate it to either their past or present. i remember missing parts of it when first watched it on VCR and had to wait for many days before finally watching it the late night show at Shalimaar theatre. it was a script which could have gone wrong but thanks to stalwards like Mansoor Khan and Nasir Hussain, bollywood now has one of the movies to be proud of. the movie has some great comic scenes: the munna-tunna fight between aamir and mamik (his elder brother in movie), the entire sequence where aamir takes pooja bedi on a jeep-ride pretending to be a xavier's boy, the fight between students over a girl at the coffee parlour etc. the soundtrack was great with "Pehla Nasha" being rightly labelled as the most romantic number ever. there is a scene in the movie when his brother is in coma and so his dad isn't eating dinner when he serves it, so aamir goes out of his home, sits on the street and starts crying. ayesha julka comes there, she puts her shawl around aamir and he rests his head on her shoulders. there is not a single dialogue that gets exchanged between them, and it is my favorite romantic scene. besides all this, none of my iit batchmates can forget that "veer bahadur ladke kaun, sabse aage ladke kaun" which became the slogan of our batch for every sports event we participated in.

2. lagaan: now what new can i say about this one, the whole world knows about this one. the movie that came so close to winning an oscar, the one movie that combined two things very close to the heart of every indian: independence and cricket. no one could have imagined that a hindi movie with 4 hrs length and more than an hour of onscreen cricket, can keep the audiences glued to their seats and create an atmosphere similar to that of an indo-pak cricket match. hats off to the Team ashutosh gowarikar.

3. chariots of fire: i think this is most under-rated movie of all time considered by many as slow and boring. my word on this one, simple Fabulous. it is a true story based on the lives of 2 athletes, very opposite in nature, but both vying for a gold medal in the 1924 olympics. one, eric liddell who runs because he thinks God has given him this ability to run and so when he runs, he is actually pleasing God and two, harold abrahams who runs to prove superiority and escape from prejudice faced by the people of his community. both of them ultimately win their gold medals and go on to become missionary. this is a visual treat specially for all those who love to run. all the racing sequences have been shot brilliantly keeping in mind every minutest possible detail. showing the 100 m race in its full speed followed by the replay of same race in slow motion which shows every athelete fighting hard for the position and a beautiful sound in the background. simple Awesome. one of my favourite quotes from this movie: "so where does the power come from to see the race to its end. from within"

4. million dollar baby: there have been many movies on boxing before with the famous Raging Bull (on a real life story) and the rocky series, but i don't think any of them touched the hearts of audiences like this one. to start with, the movie has the great trio-combo of hillay swank (who is determined to become a boxer), clint eastwood (who rejects to coach her), morgan freeman (who keeps pushing eastwood in accepting swank as his student). secondly, the movie was directed by the great man "clint eastwood" himself. so there was nothing to go wrong when to top it all, there was such a beautiful script. swank achieves her dream with her determination and support from eastwood & freeman, only to meet a fatal accident during one of the boxing matches which damages her brian and puts her in a condition where she is just counting her days. the last scene where eastwood has a sentimental fatherly talk with swank and removes her oxygen mask (so that she meets a peaceful death rather than spending rest of her days like a vegetable) is extremely touching. the movie rightfully went on to win the major oscar trophies.

5. cinderella man: again a movie based on the real life story of a boxer. i watched this movie just a few days back and though close to 25% of the movie length is composed of only boxing, the theme of the movie is so strong that it towers everything else. a great boxing champion who loses a couple of matches and then faced by the depression-era goes from prosperity to poverty (great camerawork when the shot shifts from a scene of rich household to extremely poor household). in order to protect and serve his family, whom he loves the most, he makes a comeback to the ring and goes on to win the heavyweight title. though some of the scenes depict intense violence but i personally think that this shouldn't deter someone from watching this movie. after all, the true winner in this movie is the "love for one's family". i won't be surpised if russell crowe goes on to win an oscar for best acting. an inspiring quote from renee zellweger (who plays his wife) to russell crowe just before his final fight goes something like this: "you just remember who you are, you are everybody's hope, and the kid's hero and the champion of my heart". a must watch for anybody who loves his family.