Indians are known to follow two religions ardently, Bollywood and Cricket. While the Hindi film industry provides an escape to people from reality, the rush and tension of a good cricket match remind them of their reality.
Be it Amitabh Bachchan or Sachin Tendulkar, we the people of India, make gods out of commoners who do big in either of the two 'religions'. That is the power they hold over us. And many a times these two worlds have combined. From time to time, Bollywood has made films on the most loved sport of the country.
From a historic flavoured 'Lagaan' to match-fixing based 'Jannat', Bollywood has offered all kinds of films possible from the field of bat and ball but never a biopic. Now, call it a risk or fear to fail a living legend, filmmakers in Bollywood have shied away from making films on the lives of popular cricketers. Despite so much potential, no cricketer has ever got a story of his own on celluloid. However, with Tony D'Souza's 'Azhar' things are about to change.
'Azhar' is based on most of the most successful and controversial Indian Cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin and will bring the popular cricketer's life on screen. From his exceptional form to his turbulent personal life and charges of match-fixing, the film is going to be a tell-it-all saga. Emraan Hashmi, who is known to play characters with a dark side, might be the best choice to play the controversial captain.
Now, life of Azharuddin is not a hidden story. The captain has been outspoken and media's favourite since his debut in 1984. Even now, the captain is present at every promotional event and has been taking everything head-on without a flinch. Does that mean, 'Azhar' will bring back the lost glory of a man who fell from the eyes of his fans at the peak of his career? Maybe or maybe not, but the risk Tony and Balaji have taken to justify the life of the once demi-god is commendable in itself.
In September, far bigger risk will be taken by Neeraj Panday when 'MS Dhoni: The Untold Story' releases. Based to the current Indian captain and literally the most successful one, Mahindra Singh Dhoni, the film will tell the lesser known aspects of the man. Starring Sushant Singh Rajput in the lead, the film is a tale of a commoner who went on to become the heartbeat of every Indian Cricket fan.
Dhoni, a low-key figure in media has stayed away from limelight as much as he could. His personal life is not as glamorous as Azhar, nor has he been too open about it to media. Thus, this makes 'MS Dhoni: The Untold Story', a far bigger deal. It will create an image of the captain cool, which could even be rejected by his fans. The trailer of the film is yet to be released and it'll be too soon to make assumptions but if the makers decide to play on Dhoni's current image, an interesting plot is hard to be found. After all, he is not as controversial or flamboyant as Azhar is.
However, with cinematic liberties and talent like Rajput, the makers of Dhoni bipoic might just touch upon things that Captain Cool may have never talked about. Like his early Test retirement and links with 'Chennai Super Kings' fixing scandal.
While, 'Azhar' digs the past and brings a different angle to a story known to all, 'MS Dhoni: The Story Untold' tells the journey of a man who is currently a living legend. Thus justifying the latter would be a lot harder.
There is a reason for us to rejoice as Bollywood is finally ready to take risks and has chosen two of the most loved Indian Cricket captains of all times. Will they justify their lives or not is another question, but these films have certainly created a new path for filmmakers to tap on the huge potential that play or played in the blue jersey.
Saurav Ganguly to Kapil Dev, there is a whole list of successful and controversial players whose lives fans would love to know more about. While, Sachin Tendulkar is getting his own 'documentary-styled' film aptly titled 'Sachin', a mainstream Bollywood film on him is the biggest gamble any filmmaker could make.
The risk has been taken, now success awaits!
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