Indian movies about rugby and skating?! | #202
+ Which Hollywood movie begins with Dil Se?
Friends,
In a couple of months time, the world’s eyes will be on Paris as it gets ready to host the 33rd edition of the Olympics. As the countdown begins, athletes from around the world are in their final stretches of preparation, each carrying dreams of gold and stories of perseverance. The city of romance will provide a great backdrop for stories of toil, courage and an eventual biopic starring Akshay Kumar.
Apart from the popular sports movies, Indian cinema has also featured some alternative sports stories with all the right ingredients. In this week’s newsletter we take a look at unusual Indian sports movies.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
SS Rajamouli has the penchant for the unusual. He made Bahubali 1 and then left us hanging as to why Katappa killed Bahubali for 2 years before making Bahubali 2. He imagined a fictional crossover between 2 revered freedom fighters and then Naatu Naatued all the way to the bank in RRR. But before all that in 2004, he made a film about….rugby union…? Sye is a college romance played out with rugby union as a backdrop. The movie was a minor hit when it was released, but received worldwide virality before the 2015 World Cup, when a scene from the film went viral. As The Mirror described it - Action scenes show some of the most violent, eye-watering tackles ever seen on the field of play, including plenty of stamping and the odd boot to the face. How it never won the Oscar remains a mystery.
If you are an Indian film maker and want to make a sports film - you would mostly do it on cricket, hockey or even athletics. But in-line skating? Even the world body for Inline skating has acknowledged that Hawaa Hawaai, a 2014 Hindi film made by Amol Gupte is the first ever film based on inline skating. The story is fairly predictable - a poor child who sells tea realises he has a talent for this unusual sport. But needs a coach to take him to the next level. He finds a man with a golden heart, who teaches the sport to him. But there are setbacks and how does the boy overcome it forms the rest of the story. Amol Gupte has a knack of making wonderful films involving kids - Taare Zameen Par (where he is the ‘creative director’), Stanley Ka Dabba are other examples. Go ahead and watch it this weekend, its predictable but extremely feel-good.
The traditional sport of coastal Karnataka Kambala received a huge boost thanks to the success of Kantara. The dramatic entry scene of the hero Rishabh Shetty with its thundering music, not only brought out whistles in the theatres, it also brought the spotlight on a sport that was banned in 2014, but the government overturned the ban in 2017. Tourism in the Tulu speaking areas increased manyfold after the release of Kantara. In November 2023, the first ever Kambala took place in Bangalore with over a lakh people watching it.
Question to the cinema and sports geeks - What are the names of the buffaloes in the film? Think of a leader of devils!
From IWTK, with love 💌
Which Hollywood movie begins with Chaiyaa Chaiyaa?
Who made her acting debut in the film Dil Chahta Hai?
Only In India 🇮🇳
We will just leave this here.
❤️ IWTK