With Sachin Tendulkar retiring from Test Cricket, dna finds Bollywood movies in the last 24 years. While some bombed at the box office, others went on to create history in Indian cinema.
Awwal Number
Directed by Dev Anand, the film features Dev Anand himself along with Aamir Khan. It was a box-office flop. The story revolves around cricket where a new star Sunny (Aamir Khan) has been included in the team in place of another famous star Ronny (Aditya Pancholi).
All this creates hatred in the heart of Ronny against Sunny, although Sunny respects him. Ronny decides to take revenge on Sunny; meanwhile a terrorist decides to put a bomb in the field where a match is to be organised between India and Australia.
DIG Vikram Singh (Dev Anand) comes to know about the plan of the terrorists and his brother goes on to prevent the attack, saving thousands of lives. Sunny also becomes a star by playing a match-winning stroke for the country.
Lagaan
Yet another Aamir Khan starrer, Lagaan was directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. It starred Gracy Singh as the female lead; British actors Rachel Shelley and Paul Blackthorne play the supporting roles. The film was shot in a village near Bhuj.
The film is set in the Victorian period of India's colonial British Raj and revolves around the peasants from a barren village who are oppressed by high taxes imposed by their rulers. They attempt to persuade the British officers to reduce the taxes because of poor agricultural production. Instead, a wager is offered: If their village team beats a British team in a game of cricket, their taxes for three years would be cancelled. After accepting this wager, the villagers face the arduous task of learning an alien game and playing for a result that will change their village's destiny.
Lagaan received critical acclaim and awards at international film festivals, as well as many Indian film awards. It became the third Indian film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film afterMother India (1957) and Salaam Bombay! (1988). It was one of the biggest box office hits of 2001.
Stumped
Written and directed by Gaurav Pandey, this film marks Raveena Tondon's debut as a producer.
Reena and her husband Major Raghav Seth; Ranga Khetrapal, Swadesh Deshpande and their respective wives; Laltu Singh, his wife, Neetu, and son, Bhola; the building watchman, Dukhiram; bachelor Subramaniam; and a visually-challenged Holy man, Baba, are some of the residents in Happy Home Society. The common interest shared by most of them is their love of playing and watching cricket. Reena experiences isolation after her husband is called back to Kargil to battle terrorists. She is befriended by three youngsters who have a crush her. Things, however, change dramatically after she gets word that her husband is missing and believed dead. Watch what impact this news has on the residents and their interest in cricket.
Iqbal
Written by Vipul K Rawal and directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, the film was released under Subhash Ghai's new banner, Mukta Searchlight Films. It starred Shreyas Talpade in the lead.
The story follows a cricket-obsessed boy from a remote Indian village as he aims to overcome his difficulties and become a cricketer and fulfil his dream of playing for the Indian national cricket team.
Say Salaam India
Written and directed by Subhash Kapoor, the film stars Sanjay Suri, Milind Soman and Sandhya Mridul.
Salaam India is the story of cricket. It revolves around a group of 4 boys and their passion for the game. The boys come from humble backgrounds and limited resources but what they have is a zeal for the game of cricket and undeniable natural talent. They study in the local corporation school where the most important sport on agenda is wrestling. Taught by Wrestling Guru Surinder Huda — a man driven by hatred for cricket because in his eyes it is cricket that is responsible for destroying traditional sports like Kushti, Kabbadi, and Hockey etc.
Hattrick
Directed by Milan Luthria, this 2007 Bollywood film, stars Paresh Rawal, Rimi Sen, Kunal Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Danny Denzongpa.
Despite of cricket fever, there are two people in India who dislike it's influence over their lives. The first is Dr Satyajit Chavan, who will not permit anyone in his home nor the hospital to view nor hear anything related to it; and the second is Kashmira, who is recently married to Sarabjeet Singh, and hates cricket as her husband is obsessed with it and has even neglected to be attentive leave alone take her for a honeymoon.
Then there is Hemandra Patel, located in England for over 10 years, works as an airport Janitor, but has told everyone he is a Customs Officer, is awaiting word on his becoming a Citizen, but his fate rests with Immigration Officer, Cook, who hates all Patels, including Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Watch how the world cup influences them, and the shock that awaits Hemandra when he finds that his daughter is secretly seeing an English-African man by the name of Silver.
Chain Kulii ki Main Kulii
Directed by Kittu Saluja, it stars Zain Khan and Rahul Bose in the leads. The film's title is taken from lines spoken by Amitabh Bachchan's character in the 1982 film Satte Pe Satta. The film is based on the Hollywood movie Like Mike in which a 13-year-old boy finds sneakers once belonging to NBA legend Michael Jordan. The film features music by Salim-Sulaiman and lyrics by Irfan Siddiqui. Cricketer Kapil Dev also makes a cameo appearance in the film.
Meerabai Not Out
Meerabai Not Out stars Mahesh Manjrekar, Mandira Bedi, Eijaz Khan and Anupam Kher. Presented by Pritish Nandy Communications, the film is directed by Chandrakant Kulkarni.
Mandira Bedi plays a deglam role of a cricket-crazy fan. Anil Kumble is also seen for a small role in the film.
Jannat
Jannat was directed by Kunal Deshmukh, and produced by Mukesh Bhatt. The film stars Emraan Hashmi opposite Sonal Chauhan in lead roles. It released on May 16, 2008, and received positive response from critics, and managed to do well at the box office and was a huge success worldwide.
Victory
With Harman Baweja, Amrita Rao and Anupam Kher in the lead, the film is related to cricket. It is Harman Baweja's second release after his debut filmLove Story 2050, which performed very badly at the box office.
The movie was filmed in Australia and India, and is said to be one of Bollywood's most expensive movies to date. Victory tells the story of a struggling cricketer who defies all odds to realise an almost impossible dream.
Dil Bole Hadippa!
Dil Bole Hadippa! is directed by Anurag Singh and produced by Aditya Chopra under the Yash Raj Films banner. It stars Shahid Kapoor and Rani Mukerji in pivotal roles in the story about a young woman who pretends to be a man to join an all-male cricket team.
It also has Anupam Kher, Dalip Tahil, Rakhi Sawant and Sherlyn Chopra in supporting roles. The film was a box office failure. It is loosely inspired from 2006 Hollywood film She's the Man, which is itself adapted from Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night.
World Cupp 2011
World Cupp 2011 is a sport and crime film directed by debutante Ravi Kapoor. It deals on match fixings and involvement of the Underworld. It stars Ravi Kapoor and Manisha Chatterjee in the leads.
Patiala House
Patiala House is a family drama/sports directed by Nikhil Advani and starring Akshay Kumar and Anushka Sharma. British Asian actor Armaan Kirmani makes his debut in this film as Akshay's brother. It was produced by Bhushan Kumar, Mukesh Talreja, Krishan Kumar and Twinkle Khanna under the banner of People Tree Films, Credence Motion Pictures and Hari Om Entertainment. Akshay Kumar plays the role of a fast bowler, loosely based upon Monty Panesar.
Ferrari Ki Sawari
Ferrari Ki Sawaari is a 2012 sports comedy film directed by Rajesh Mapuskar. The film is written by Rajesh Mapuskar and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, starring Sharman Joshi in the lead.
Kai Po Che
Kai Po Che! directed by Abhishek Kapoor based on Chetan Bhagat's novelThe 3 Mistakes of My Life. Sushant Singh Rajput, Raj Kumar Yadav and Amit Sadh star as the three main protagonists while Amrita Puri plays the female lead.
Set in Ahmedabad, the story revolves around three friends, Ishaan (Sushant Singh Rajput), Omi (Amit Sadh) and Govind (Raj Kumar Yadav), who want to start their own sports shop and sports academy. The film tracks their deep friendship, and innocence tarnished by religious politics and communal hatred, which results in their fallout, and an eventual death.
Chak De! India (Hockey)
Chak De! India is a 2007 Hindi-language Indian sports drama film about field hockey in India. Directed by Shimit Amin and produced by Yash Raj Films, with action by Rob Miller of ReelSports, the film stars Shah Rukh Khan as Kabir Khan, the former captain of the Indian hockey team. Chak De! India was critically acclaimed and went on to win numerous awards in the Best Film category including the National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar (Cycling)
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar was directed by Mansoor Khan. The film stars Aamir Khan, Ayesha Jhulka, Mamik Singh, Deepak Tijori and Kulbhushan Kharbanda in the lead roles, Aamir's brother Faisal Khan makes a special appearance. The film won the Filmfare award for best movie.
Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal (Football)
Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal was produced by Ronnie Screwvala and directed by Vivek Agnihotri for UTV Motion Pictures. The film stars John Abraham, Bipasha Basu, Arshad Warsi and Boman Irani. Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal is a contemporary fictional story of the South Asian community in the UK, told through the prism of professional football.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is based on the life of "The Flying Sikh" Milkha Singh, an Indian athlete who was a national champion runner and an Olympian.
The film has been produced and directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra on a script written by Prasoon Joshi, with sports action by Rob Miller of ReelSports. The film stars Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, Divya Dutta, Pavan Malhotra, Meesha Shafi and Yograj Singh.
Paan Singh Tomar
Paan Singh Tomar is based on the true story of an athlete Paan Singh Tomar who served the Indian Army and won a gold medal at Indian National Games, but was forced to become a notorious bandit. It is directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia and produced by UTV Motion Pictures. Irrfan plays the titular role, with Mahie Gill, Vipin Sharma and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in supporting roles.
Striker
Striker is an action-drama film written, directed and produced by Chandan Arora. It stars Siddharth, Padmapriya, Vidya Malvade, Nicolette Bird, Anupam Kher, Seema Biswas and Aditya Pancholi. It also premiered on YouTube the same day, thus becoming the first ever Indian film to premiere on YouTube internationally on the same day as its domestic theatrical release.
Apne
Directed by Anil Sharma, this is the first and one of the three films to feature real life father and sons Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol together. Sunny and Bobby had worked together before in Dillagi and Dharmendra and Sunny had also appeared together in Sultanat (1986) andKshatriya (1993). Kiron Kher, Shilpa Shetty and Katrina Kaif play the female leads. The film opened to an excellent response across India and emerged as a hit overseas as well
Bend it Like Beckham
Bend It Like Beckham is a comedy-drama film starring Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Anupam Kher, Shaznay Lewis, and Archie Panjabi, first released in the United Kingdom. The film was directed by Gurinder Chadha. Its title refers to the football player David Beckham and his skill at scoring from free kicks by bending the ball past a wall of defenders.
Ehsaas
Directed by Mahesh Manjrekar, the film stars Sunil Shetty as Ravi, who could not fulfil his dream to become an ace athlete but now wants his son — Rohan (Master Mayank Tandon) to fulfil that and get everything in his life which he (the father) could not get. For this purpose, he behaves with him like a strict disciplinarian without caring for the fact that his harsh attitude is taking his little son away from him.
Nita Ambani has been nominated for membership in the International Olympic Committee. (Source: BCCI)
The judgement in Sushil-Narsingh case would be announced on June 6. (Source: File)
Maria Sharapova was suspended after testing positive for meldonium. (Source: Reuters)