Priya Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; March 21, 2014)

You may remember Sanjeev Kumar romancing Hema Malini skating together singing Hawaa Ke Saath Saath, but no one internationally has made a film based on the sport of skating till Amole Gupte, whose upcoming film Hawaa Hawaai, which will do just that. If you are wondering why no one thought of it earlier, it might just be that a writer-director before may not have had a son like Partho, who from the age of four, dreamt of skating and decided to not just learn the sport, but dragged his parents along as they needed to tie him up. So by default, Amole landed up getting inducted into the sport and decided to write a script in 2008 which after 22 drafts, has finally got made as Hawaa Hawaai. It stars Saqib Saleem who plays Partho’s coach and young Partho who will live his dream of skating through the medium of the film. Talking about skating, Amole said, “Skating is an expensive sport as a pair of inland skates could cost more than a bike. But I saw the grit of the sport and wanted to make a film on it as it will be a first on celluloid internationally and skating is Formula One. Either you are on four wheels in a Ferrari or you are the Ferrari.”

 While there aren’t too many sports-based films made in India, the ones that were made, prove to be both inspirational as well as profitable. We look at some of our favourites...

BHAAG MILKHA BHAAG (2013) Based on the life of the Flying Sikh, Milkha Singh, it shows the making of a legend.


CHAK DE! INDIA (2007) A film centred around hockey, this uplifting film saw a tainted coach leading the women’s team to World Cup victory.


DHAN DHANA DHAN GOAL (2007) This was a story of a small South Asian community in the UK, told through the game of football.


IQBAL (2005) About a cricket-obsessed deaf boy from a remote Indian village, who, against all odds, becomes a cricketer.


LAGAAN (2001) Set in pre-independent India, a team of 11 Indian villagers wins a game of cricket against their British masters.


YET TO RELEASE
MARY KOM (2014) A biopic based on the life of Olympic bronze medalist Mary Kom.