Listen Bollywood! It's a Glorious Time to Celebrate Our Women Sports-heroes

The date was 23rd July 2017. It was a calm and lazy Sunday noon when the whole family usually watches a classic movie after the lunch. The movie ended by 3 o' clock. I changed the channel to Star Sports 2. The final match of ICC Women's world cup between India & England was streaming live there. Also, I was waiting for this match since morning.

My father, who enjoys watching Men Cricket matches, asked me about the match. I told him that it was the Final match of Women's world cup and how it was one of the most epic matches in the history of Indian Women's Cricket.
The next question my father asked, led me to think about this topic. The question was - When did this women cricket team form?......in recent years?
I was stumped. I just replied, "This team is playing for very long." I don't remember the time when I came to know about the women's cricket. Before this world cup, I was not in a position to name even 5 players of the Indian Women's Cricket Team. I felt disappointed with myself. To reduce my grief, I googled about the team and the world cup.

I realized that we have a very less knowledge about the sportswomen of our country. Then I pondered why is it so. The reason is that we always follow the ones under lime-light, and these female athletes are either in the dim limelight or are quite apart from publicity. There are few sportswomen who are known to many, and this was only possible because of any biopic/documentry that has been made on their life, or because they have been the headline of some news for any big moment of their sport.

A biopic/documentary/news-headline makes a sportsperson known to a lot of people. For instance, "Dangal" made the Phogat sisters star in the world.

Likewise, the final Match of Women's Badminton Singles in Rio Olympics made P. V. Sindhu the headline of the news in the whole world.

I do believe that these biopics/documentries motivate the players. They let the world know about them. And then people start cheering up for them. In a country like India, where the orthodox traditions and customs are not in favour of the female child be it, athletes, there is a keen requirement of Biopics & movies centered around sportswoman.

If we look towards the West, we will get a number of good Hollywood movies picturizing brilliant stories of exceptional sports-women. It is not so that the condition of female athletes is so better there. They are needed to fight against all odds, to swim against the stream, mostly in the whole world. There are many Hollywood films which present the struggle of a female athlete in a very brilliant way.

For instance, we can consider the Oscar winning film Million Dollar Baby . This movie revolves around Maggie, a struggling waitress who beats all odds to become a boxer. The movie depicts the struggling life of a boxer in an emotional and a motivational way. You might be depressed with its tragic end, but it is still a great film delivering a strong message.

Similarly, we can have the example of Bend It Like Beckham .In this movie, the lead protagonist Jess dreams of playing like legendary football player David Beckham. But her wish was opposed by her orthodox Punjabi Sikh family. Finally, she goes against her parents and plays football on a Women's team.

Hollywood has a number of such women centric sports films. Few good examples are A League of Their Own , The Next Karate Kid , Gotta Kick It Up! , Whip It , Motocrossed , She's the Man , and many more.

The condition in Bollywood is not as similar to Hollywood. Here you can not name even 10 movies of this genre. I am here naming 5 female sports films of Bollywood which caught the attention of Indian audience. There could be more such films but they are so underrated that they even could not get published properly. If you know about any more female sports movie in Bollywood, let us know in our comment box.

1. Chak De! India Probably it is the first sport-based Bollywood movie that featured sportswomenship in Indian cinema. The film was centered around the team members and coach of National Women's Hockey Team. Firstly, it depicts the love and passion of the girls towards their game. Secondly, it expresses the emotions of a coach, who has been a failed player of his time. The most memorable part of the movie was SRK's "70 mins speech".

2. Dil Bole Hadippa! In this film, a village girl Veera disguises herself as a man to enter into a male cricket team. The movie was a box office disappointment. Also, it received negative reviews from critics. The only good thing about the movie was Veera's love toward her game.

3. Mary Kom It is the first biopic in Bollywood about a sportwoman. M C Mary Kom, the 5 times Women's Boxing World Champion and the Olympic Medalist Boxer, really deserved a biopic of her life. This movie depicts Mary's struggle in establishing a balance between her family and game. The character of Mary Kom was boldly portrayed by Priyanka Chopra.

4. Irudhi Suttru The story of this film revolves around an aggressive female boxer and her ruthless male coach. This film represents their union in a bitter sweet manner. This critically acclaimed film depicts the risks taken by a female athlete in her life.

5. दंगल Dangal became the highest grossing Hindi movie of all time. This sport-drama movie is grossly accepted by both audience and critics. This movie represents the life of Indian Wrestlers sisters Geeta Phogat & Babita Phogat; also it depicts the struggle of their coach & father Mahavir Singh Phogat, whose character was played by Aamir Khan. This movie was regarded as a crowd pleasing movie which gives a strong message of Women Empowerment with its epic dialogue - "म्हारी छोरियाँ छोरों से कम हैं के?"
Read: Why Films Like Dangal Are Important For India.

The female sports films are a great inspiration not only for girls but for boys too. India has a number of legendary sportswomen. Many more good biopics can be made about their life and struggle. Definitely, "Dangal" has made a path for biopics on sportswomen. Also, we do not have any lack of talent in our Bollywood. So now we can hope to see many good female sports film in the future...