Game for inspiration

With biopics on cricketers Mohd. Azharuddin, M S Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar all set to release this year, we examine which of the three is most likely to hit it out of the stadium

This year, the lives of three cricketers will be shown on the big screen. Two of them have retired and the third one is the current captain of the Indian cricket team. We are talking about Tony D’Souza’s Azhar, Neeraj Pandey’s Dhoni and James Erskine’s Sachin — A Billion Dreams. While Azhar is the most controversial subject, given his affairs and his match fixing scandal, movies on Sachin and Dhoni also have their own merits.

While the ones on Azhar and MSD are feature films, the one on Sachin is a docudrama.

Azhar will be releasing on May 13, Dhoni will be out on September 2 and Sachin — A Billion Dreams will release in the second half of this year.

Azharuddin himself has stepped out to promote his biopic along with lead actor Emraan Hashmi, which has helped make enough noise around the film. The movie is going to reveal a lot about Azhar’s first wife, Maureen, and his affair with Sangeeta Bijlani. This is enough fodder to get the audience excited too.

But is this all it takes to make a sports biopic work Is it the sports person who will get the audience to theatres, or is it his controversial life

Virat Kohli at a recent event, when asked about these biopics, had said, “I am looking forward to watching all of them. Obviously, the one I am waiting for the most is Tendulkar’s. It is because I have been connected with Tendulkar’s memories for such a long time, from when I was a child. I want to actually get into his head, as I have idolised him from the beginning.”

The Writers The writer of Azhar, Raja Arora has a very realistic take on all three films. When asked about his biggest challenge while writing Azhar, he says, “In any biopic, the most difficult part is what not to keep rather than what to keep. It’s the most challenging part because as a writer, you become greedy. Azhar is not a sports film, it’s a human drama. It is not about the last ball six, but about how a man has dealt with everything in his life. You are not going to see his matches; you will get to see his personal side. Whether it’s a biopic or making an incident of someone’s life, it has to have drama. Even Dhoni’s teaser is about a man’s journey. You can see all his innings on YouTube, so the writer’s task is to explore what we don’t know about this man.”

On the trend of three sports films releasing this year and which one will work, he says, “Azhar, Sachin and Dhoni are heroes for millions of people. How do you inspire people You inspire them by telling them tales. Azhar, Dhoni or Tendulkar — it’s ultimately about how they came up triumphant in difficult situations.”

Writer and director of Youngistaan and Lal Rang, Syed Ahmad Azul feels that Dhoni will be the winner. He says, “Cinematically, I have seen Dhoni posters and they look far superior to the others. I am not very sure about Azhar; it appears like a mainstream masala film, spiced up with emotions and inter-character relationships. I think it would be Dhoni that would create more excitement.”

Writer and director of Hum Tum and Fanaa, Kunal Kohli says, “All three biopics look exciting and I feel all the three sportsmen are legends who have made a lot of difference to people’s lives.”

Fan speak Delhi’s cricket buffs — young and old alike — are bubbling with excitement over the three releases. While some are rooting for Captain Cool in M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, others are eagerly awaiting the docudrama around Little Master Sachin Tendulkar. Mohd. Azharuddin’s biopic is also drawing a fair amount of curiosity and intrigue from the crowd.

Delhi-based media professional Megha Verma says, “I am a hardcore Dhoni fan, so his biopic is pretty much my most awaited movie of the year. I have been following his journey since he first came into the Indian team and I would love to see how they make it play out in the form of a film, especially the parts of his career as well as life that I don’t already know about.” However, she also adds, “I’m also looking forward to Azhar. He’s always been a bit of a mystery figure to me. And I’m not even talking just about the match fixing fiasco — he has just always seemed to me like a man with more of a story to tell than what is known to the media and to fans. After reading so many articles and interviews on how the movie is also going to explore the untold and unknown aspects of everything that happened under all that media glare, I can’t help being a little intrigued.

Joining the throng of Dhoni fans, Delhi University student Akanksha Jagannathan is placing her bets on him for the win. “His is the least explored story of the three, if you think about it. Tendulkar is cricket’s God, and his story is probably the best known — from his training days all the way to his becoming the legendary Master Blaster. And Azhar is also a senior cricketer whose struggles are fairly well known and documented. Dhoni is the youngest, most recent of the lot and is still an active cricketer. It doesn’t get more immediate than that in terms of interest value. I’m sure there are many like me who want to know more about him and be introduced to his struggles in detail the way we already know about Sachin’s and Azhar’s,” she argues.

The Dhoni mania continues as Niranjan, a city-based software engineer says, “I am looking forward to watching M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story and see how they portray the story of one of India’s most successful captains. It will be interesting to see how they capture the dressing room politics and differences apart from the personal problems and complexes ‘captain cool’ underwent during his tenure.”

On the other hand, there are those who are still mermerised by the legend of the Little Master. For city-based beauty expert Niharica Narang, it’s all about catching a glimpse of the legend’s real life. She says, “We as fans know what’s brewing when the players are on the ground but we have no idea what goes on beyond that. We are only able to catch a glimpse of their real lives vis–a–vis TV interviews, newspaper articles, gossip columns and now social media....So, I am excited to see what goes on in the green room, the prep talk, the naughtiness, the anger when they fight an opponent and the disappointment when they lose, etc. via these biopics. I am a huge Master Blaster fan and have been crazily following his journey since I was young...I have a zillion Sachin posters and memorabilia lining my room. I am so excited about his movie that I am ready to pre-book a ticket for myself, in case that option pops up.”

Finally, there are also fans who love the game enough to be excited for all three biopics. “Cricket is an esemplastic gift to the human race; it unifies countries across continents irrespective of the caste they belong to, creed, region, religion and gender, etc. Also, if I am not mistaken, there are only a few biopics made on living legends...so it would be interesting to hear, see and witness a wood note from inside their maddening cricket lives when they are still alive. I am excited to see how all these legends will react to their own biopics. I hope it doesn’t turn out to be a gimcrack. I am rooting for all three of them,” Varun Arora, CA affirms.