Comparative
Analysis of Sports Drama Indian Movies of 21st Century
Abhinav Singh
PhD Research Scholar
University of Lucknow
Uttar Pradesh, India
&
Prof. Seema Sarkar
University of Lucknow
Uttar Pradesh, India
Abstract: Bollywood movies
consist of several genres and themes. This is major part of popular culture in
the Indian society. One of the major areas of movies is related to sports.
These sports drama movies set
the stage for the shifting of ideologies, thoughts, and ideas imbibed in the
sports drama movies, related to real-life social, political, cultural, and
personal biases. The paper includes the comparative
analysis of the sports drama movies and their shifts in themes, divided
in decades. Such as the early 2000s movies like Lagaan (2001), Iqbal
(2005) and Chak De! India (2007),
are based on the Underdog protagonist
and nationalism. While the 2010s movies like Paan Singh Tomar (2012), Bhaag
Milkha Bhaag (2013), Mary Kom
(2014) and Dangal (2017), are
based on overcoming poverty, partition trauma, and patriarchal systems. Moving
on the period between late 2010s to 2026 movies like Mukkebaaz (2017), 83
(2021), Maidaan (2024) and Chandu Champion (2024), focuses on
structural corruption, sports federation politics, and inclusivity. This
shifting of genres, themes, values and bitter social prejudices, helps in the analysis of Hindi-language
Bollywood movies, which not only mirrors, but also highlights the systematic
flaws in the Indian sports culture. These movies provide innumerable dimensions
of viewing the sports, not only for an individual, but for the whole social
parameters of unethical boundaries, related to class, caste, gender, and
economic factors. Movies help in highlighting the patriarchal and slow system,
lacking proper guidance and management in every sports. This paper is the
qualitative critical film analysis of several sports-drama Hindi-language movies of 21st
century, based on certain sports related personalities and their struggles
during preparation for future goals.
Keywords: sports drama
movies, comparative analysis,
Underdog protagonist, social prejudices, Hindi-language movies
Introduction
Bollywood movies help in reflecting social, political,
financial aspects of the society. These movies often act as a cultural
construct just as in lifestyle, fashion, arts, and literature as well as in
moral and ethical aspects of every individual.
Nationalism and Gender Inequality
Every sports drama movie has nationalistic commitments
because every step for being a sportsperson, leads to the national and
international recognition, with pure willingness and commitment. Just like in
the movie Lagaan (2001), “using postcolonial, psychoanalytic, sports and
cultural theory” (1), the movie explores the nationalistic fights of the
protagonist Bhuvan and the villagers against the tax system of Britishers, set
in the 19th century. In the same way, the movie also features the brutal
treatment of the Britishers and treating the village workers as their slaves.
There are the postcolonial themes of self-determination. Chak De India
(2007) also showcases the nationalistic determination of the protagonist Kabir.
He tries to comeback in Hockey as a coach. His commitment for upliftment of
Women Indian Hockey team, regardless of gendered biasness and unsupportive
federation, amplifies the role of the National sports coaches, including
teammates and supporting staff.
Disability and Female Masculinity
“Nagesh Kukunoor’s “Iqbal” received praise for its
emphatic portrayal of man named Iqbal, who is deaf and mute, and his
determination to become a cricketer (Mishra 6).”This determines the reflection
of the protagonist, who is differently abled, but still encapsulates the
circumstances to become the national-level bowler in Indian team. This is the
portrayal of inclusivity in the Society for every individual. On the other
hand, movie Mary Kom (2014), reflects female masculinity, inspired from
the real-life sportsperson Mary Kom from Manipur. The movie role performed by
an actress Priyanka Chopra, proves the role of a women to challenge the
stereotypical challenges at domestic level and lead in the sports like Boxing
at National and International level.
“The film Mary Kom is about female masculinity. It
moves around real nature, ambition, struggle, and hardship of central female
character Mary Kom starred by Priyanka Chopra. The female protagonist Mary Kom
is masculine in nature who is attributed with courage, combativeness, guts,
pro-activeness and assertiveness. She questions the traditional norms and
values existed in the society. She has an enormous dream for being the World’s
boxing champion in the days to come (Rajbanshi 1).”
Corruption and Identity Crisis
Paan Singh Tomar (2012)
is the movie of an Indian army athlete, who despite being serving for the
nation, turned into rebel, because of local corruption and bureaucracy. He is
treated with brutality and violence, because of domestic violence and unlawful
land acquisition. Sports drama movies play a dual role of inculcating the
feeling of individuality and the mirror of the corrupt system. The display of
identity crisis is one of the major themes in sports drama movies. All the
sports drama movies contain this major characteristic. In Chak De! India
(2007), Kabir suffered from mental and emotional breakout, after being declared
anti-nationalistic after losing a Hockey match at international level. In Mary
Kom (2014), Mary Kom is criticised for her ways. Still, she fights back and
finds her real values in Boxing. Similarly, in Lagaan (2001), Bhuvan and
the villagers suffered from colonial taxpaying system, which ultimately,
resulted in their self-identity and importance in their own nation. Moving on
to the movies like Mukkebaaz (2017), where corruption takes place behind
the veil of casteism and priority, in Boxing. Regardless of this, the
protagonist Shravan Singh fights back the inbuilt corruption and reaches to the
district level of Boxing.
Patriarchy and Oppression
Power structures work actively in every sports drama
movie, whether it be because of patriarchy or oppression. Colonial oppression
in Lagaan movie, caste-based oppression in Mukkebaaz, and gender-based oppression
in Mary Kom, Chak De! India, etc. gives the reality check of the contemporary
sports situation, in regional areas, in both the colonial and post-colonial
times.
Underdog protagonist and Training grit
Every sports drama movie has an underdog protagonist, who
fights back the corrupt system and social pressures, to appear at national and
international recognition. Domestic and social values are challenged for being
able to gain training and proper fitness, required for the respective sports.
The training helps in acquiring confidence and self-importance, moving through
the personal grit and determination of the protagonist throughout the movie. In
this training experience, both the sportsperson and the coach, with their
supporting staff, play a crucial role in helping the protagonist to face
challenges at every level.
Climax as a major catalyst
Every sports drama movie, with an Underdog protagonist
has physical challenges and action sequences, containing sweat and blood
training, all throughout the movie. Exceptionality lies in the climax of every
movie, in which, there is a use of falling action and then the final-minute
comeback of the protagonist. All this is driven by the psychological growth
from the starting of the struggle. This is the proper “Bollywoodisation” of
every sports drama movie, which helps in the success of the movie at commercial
level too. People can connect with the whole movie, because of the hyperreal
climax scene, presented in slow motion. The final six hit by the protagonist Bhuvan,
misinterpreted by the antagonist Captain Russell in the movie Lagaan. In the
same way, in Chak De India movie, the Indian Women’s Hockey team facing
Australia in the World Cup finals, the goalkeeper Vidya Sharma saves the goal
of the opposition during penalty shootout, redeeming the past failures of the
coach Kabir. This functions as the major catalyst of powerful domination,
redefining the major plot of the movie, from the starting.
Literature Review
Indian sports drama movies provide rich narrative related
to several literary theories in English Literature-
1. Postcolonial Theory and Nationalism – Sports in Indian
cinema frequently serve as the metaphorical battleground against colonialism or
a powerful tool for forging a unified national identity. Just like in Lagaan,
the game of cricket is used to subvert colonial power dynamics, allowing the
colonized to defeat the British on equal terms. Similarly, films like Chak De!
India (2007) and 83 (2021) utilize the “underdog” motif to overcome regional
divisions, promoting homogenized, fervent national pride. These movies
established the genre of sports drama films on nationalistic grounds, such as
in movie Dangal (2016), inspired by the true personalities father and coach
Mahavir Phogat, with his daughters Geeta and Babita Phogat, bring out the
national and international recognition in wrestling. The whole soul determined
protagonists imbibe the feelings of nationalism and pure inclination of the
younger generation towards sports.
2. Feminist Film Theory –Sports drama movies often reflect
the gender and physical biasness in the traditional patriarchal society. Movies
like Dangal, Mary Kom, Chak De! India, etc., details the feminine identity
crisis at regional level. People try to veil the skills and talents of a girl
from the beginning. In Dangal, Geeta and Babita, including their father Mahavir
Phogat, are criticized by the villagers, after Mahavir Phogat starts training
his daughters for wrestling. In Mary Kom movie, Mary Kom belongs to the small
village of Manipur, where she is being criticized at domestic level, for being
very masculine in nature, starts practising boxing, along with men.
3. Marxism and Cultural Studies –Power dynamics works in the
movies like Paan Singh Tomer, Mukkebaaz, Lagaan, M.S. Dhoni- The Untold Story,
etc. In Paan Singh Tomar, the protagonist is suppressed by the local corrupt
police system and turned to become a decoy. In Lagaan, villagers are maltreated
with brutal taxpaying system of the Britishers, resulting in historical cricket
match. In M.S. Dhoni- The Untold Story, Dhoni, although being a prolific and
skilled batsman and wicketkeeper, fails to take part in national level games,
just because of the improper slow federation support for the efficient players.
4. Auteur Theory and Mythmaking –Hindi-language Bollywood
movies partake the real-life sporting legends, to larger-than-life legends and
create a myth at the certain level of proliferation of the fictional
attributes, of the movies’ narrative. Just like in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag movie,
contains the fictional accounts of some of the major scenes, by setting at the
backdrop of historical perspectives.
Objective
This paper studies the several narratives of the sports
drama movies from the thematic and critical point of views. The sports drama movies
help in inculcating the passion and enthusiasm for the young generation for
every sport. This further helps in idolisation of legendary sporting
personalities, who helps in the upliftment of athleticism and liberalisation of
sports for everyone, irrespective of class, caste, gender, race, or community.
This paper helps in identifying the difference between the capturing of
lifelong struggle of the legendary sportsperson in a certain time limit, and
certain historical mythmaking of the directors, for making the movie more
appropriate at commercial level. The paper has reviewed the basic differences
among some sports drama Bollywood movies, contributing to the sports Indian
cultural pros and cons. The inspiration is taken from the real-life sporting events
and legends, who had contributed to the Indian sports, by facing several
challenges.
Conclusion
This thematic and comparative analysis of 21st
century sports drama movies has brought significant changes in the society.
People are directly or indirectly influenced by the sports drama movies bring
forth the hidden struggle of significant players related to several sports.
Some of the sports drama movies are “shaped by a confluence of cultural
stereotypes, mythical narratives, and gendered nationalist discourses, maternal
figures in Indian society are often reified, obscuring the complexities of
their gendered being within a society steeped in patriarchy (Routray and Gaur
109).”
This paper helps in identification of “the
social-emancipatory athletic phenomenon of the pre-globalisation era to the
neoliberal Hindi sports films of the early millennial phase. The study then
explores the slow dissolution of the ‘composite masculinity’ that considered
the ethnic variegation of Indian nationalism, and the emergence of sporting
cinema on patriarchal and athletic superheroes. (5)”
This brings forth the clear view of all the national
sports, their amplification in movies, featuring masculinity and patriarchal
nature of every sport. But this scenario is now challenged with the movies like
Dangal, Chak De! India, Ghoomar etc. to suppress the patriarchal nature of
every sport. People, leaving the orthodox behaviour of gender biasness and
complexity within education sector, are giving chances to young girls to take
part in sports. This has resulted in the creation of Women’s Premier League in
cricket and other sports too are driven with Khelo India National Games. So,
sports drama movies, do play role in transformation of societal traditional
changes, and bring forth the role of National players and their struggle to
uplift the importance of every sport besides Cricket. This paper helps in
correlating the role of Cinema by creating sports drama movies inspired by true
events and legends, which help to improve the mass culture and popular culture
for the upliftment self and the society in every corner of the world.
Works
Cited
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Double Temporality of Lagaan: Cultural Struggle and Postcolonialism”, Journal
of Sport and Social Issues, vol. 28, no. 2, 2004.
Mishra, Sachitra,
“Portrayal of Disability in Hindi Cinema”, International Journal for
Multidisciplinary Research, vol. 6, no. 4, 2024, pp. 1-9. Research Gate.
Rajbanshi, Parash.
“Masculine Female in the Film Mary Kom”, Central Department of English,
Tribhuvan U, Scribed, Sept. 2015.
Routray, Sushree and
Rashmi Gaur, “A postcolonial feminist representation of motherhood in recent
Bollywood sports movies”, Women’s Studies International Forum, pp. 109,
2025.
Radhakrishnan, Pooja and
Dibyakusum Ray, “Playing it the nation’s way: tradition, cosmopolitanism, and
the native masculine of Hindi sports films”, Contemporary South Asia, vol.
31, no. 4, 2023, pp. 533-546, Taylor & Francis Online.