Exploring memorable scenes that celebrate football in the movies.
Key Points
- Films like Jhund and Maidaan highlight the struggles and triumphs of Indian football figures and grassroots initiatives.
- Bend It Like Beckham stands out as a cross-cultural hit, showcasing female footballers challenging societal norms.
- Classic comedies such as Golmaal and Andaz Apna Apna feature memorable football-inspired humour and iconic scenes.
- Even dramas like Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and Saaheb use football backgrounds to explore character arcs and emotional sacrifices.
FIFA fever is everywhere in the world. Though India is not part of the competition, fans of football are reeling in excitement to find out what icons like Messi and Ronaldo will achieve in this edition.
Sukanya Verma shares some of Bollywood’s best known football moments on the silver screen and streaming.
Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
Salman Khan does Salman Khan things in The Prisoner of Zenda rehash about swapped lookalikes and featuring a song and dance brand of football session, a la Padh Kanduk Pratyogita in a bit to endear himself to his estranged step sisters.
Jhund
Inspired by Slum Soccer founder Vijay Barse’s efforts to train underprivileged youngsters, Nagraj Manjule’s Jhund stars Amitabh Bachchan as a retired sports teacher recognising the football playing potential among a bunch of delinquents in his neighbourhood, who makes it his life’s mission to ensure the world sees it too.
Maidaan
The Ajay Devgn sports biopic revolves around football coach Syed Abdul Rahim and his contribution as the architect of the game in its golden age from the early 1950s to 1960s as he overcomes all kinds of challenges and cynicism to lead India to glory.
Bend it like Beckham
It’s not Bollywood but there’s enough desi presence to relate and revel in. Gurinder Chadha’s delightful coming-of-age sports drama about two friends and female footballers trying to rebel against parental and societal expectations by pursuing the sport professionally finds a perfect expression in British footballer David Beckham’s bending technique.
Hip Hip Hurray
Prakash Jha directs Raj Kiran as an unemployed engineer compelled to take up a school’s offer as football coach while waiting for a lucrative job opportunity only to realise how much the wayward boys need his guidance as he dribbles their way to victory.
Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal
When a promising British footballer of Indian origin becomes a victim of racism from the oh-so-gora club he idolises, he reluctantly joins a South Asian community club only to figure where his real goals lie in John Abraham’s underdog tale of triumph.
Sikandar
Parzan Dastur, most remember him as the cute sardar kid from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, slips into the skin of a teenage footballer turned into a political pawn by the military and militants against the backdrop of Kashmir’s war-torn scenery.
Tu Hai Mera Sunday
All this group of five friends in Mumbai’s bustling, bubbling with crowds scenario wants is to find a peaceful spot to play a game of football in the slice-of-life settings of Tu Hai Mera Sunday.
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
Karan Johar’s infidelity drama has little to do with sports except Shah Rukh Khan’s super bitter NRI, a former soccer star whose career comes to a crashing end after a road accident leaves him with a limp and lasting resentment.
Saaheb
Anil Kapoor’s emotional turn as a starry-eyed goalkeeper hailing from a middle class family in Saaheb continues to turn on the waterworks. Sacrificing his career at the altar of familial obligations, he volunteers to donate his kidney in the melodrama’s third act and fund his sister’s wedding.
Kabir Singh
Shahid Kapoor’s rowdy goalie beating the daylights of the rival team in response to the latter’s sledging during an intercollegiate contest is just another example of Kabir Singh’s raging temperament in Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s remake of his Telugu hit Arjun Reddy.
Golmaal
Hrishikesh Mukerji’s football inspired title is a droll pun play on the elaborate sham football lover Amol Palekar must pull off by posing as a pair of chalk and cheese lookalike twins in order to appease his strict boss and fellow football bhakt Utpal Dutt. Their comical exchange on the subject of Pele as part of the job interview drill is one for the ages.
Andaz Apna Apna
The sight of ‘champion’ Aamir Khan demonstrating a hilarious game of football with sherbet filled glasses across a breathless commentary of how he scored six successive goals for Mohan Bagan in 1988 is as entertaining as watching a football showdown from inside a stadium.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
