Sports- Emotions- Movies

Its always a wonderful feeling when you hit the winning boundary in last over of a world cup final, when you win the Wimbledon finals in the final set, when the goal keeper stops the penalty shoot to win the champions league, when you show who you are in sports when the odds are against you. The movies all over the world never failed to capture the adrenaline and emotions the players go through on the pursuit to improbable victory.

Since I love emotional movies (like Shawshank redemption, Pursuit of happiness, 500 days of Summer, Anbay Sivam (Tamil), Happy Days (Telugu) etc., ), theme based on sports are always special. Here are some of the movies I enjoyed heart out associated with sports

Rookie of the year : The 1993 American film I watched in my younger days and so inspired with the theme. A young boy accidentally gets a golden shoulder of pitching at more than 100 mph in baseball and turns out to be star. However, the twist is that in the finals of the championship, he loses this gift and gets back to a normal person. How he tackles this to get the team to victory is the climax. Though it’s a movie under comedy genre, I liked the way the movie was filmed.

Rocky : No doubt, truly amazing film making in the field of Boxing and Knock out stuffs. Sylvester Stallone turned out to be a big inspiration lived as Rock Balboa for the whole Rocky series. I vaguely remember this movie as I watched it long back but I remember the opponent in the first part becomes his coach in second part was an interesting sequel and I suggest any one to watch the whole series. However, the last part is a bit let down.

Wimbledon : Not the best of sports movies but if you like Tennis, you may like this movie. All about an average British Tennis player in twilight of his career determined to win the Wimbledon and prove a point on his worth. Watch it if you get a chance. Tennis victories lies in the mind on top of the skill.

Psye : Well directed and well shot Telugu (Indian) movie based on Rugby. The story of how the college Rugby team wins a match against the bunch of hooligans to retain the College land captured by them. I was astonished by the way it was filmed made the sport looked so real. Kudos to Telugu cinema for the brave attempt.

Lagaan : The masterpiece sports based movie ever made in Indian Cinema. Set in pre independence era, a team from a village in India should win the 3 day Cricket game against ruling British to save the tax for the year. A R Rehman was a genius in setting the tone with good background scores and songs. The climax scene where Aamir Khan hits the ball-caught-by-captain-but-crossed-boundary just made every one in the cinema jump on the seats and clapped unanimously. The movie was nominated for Oscars.

Chak De India : Well directed and a lovely movie to watch. I however didn’t liked the plot where a complete underdog womens hockey team in India goes on to win the champions Australia in their own soil. Excuse me, this is height of drama. How will you feel when Zimbabwe releases a movie where the Cricket team under a months time comes from zero to beat India in world cup in India which never happened in history. Hence I rate Chak de India as hypothetical fiction. Ignoring that, Sharukh Khan did the role well of a Coach and the way he builds the team is amazing. A very good entertainment.

Hansie : This is not really a sports movie but all about one of the greatest captains of South African Cricket team, Hansie Cronje suffered by his one mistake and the emotions he went through all the time until his dramatic death. Watch this and you will change your opinions about Hansie Cronje

Invictus : This is the movie that drived me to post this article. I just saw last night and still cant get the movie out of my mind. Its not the conventional sports movie with full of dramas. It’s the true story of the first president of Democratic South Africa, Nelson Mandela inspired the South African Rugby team to achieve the world cup on their first appearance in their own land. It’s a marvelous movie rated based on the accuracy of history. The true story of 1995 Rugby World cup. I was overwhelmed when my South African colleague explained the whole world cup on how it happened. Don’t expect those hi-fi drama like Lagaan or Chak De India in this movie. Its pure classic by Clint Eastwood. Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon lived in this movie. A must watch for the fact of True story. Know what ? I learnt the rules of the game now ;)

I am not sure if I left out anything but guys do leave a comment if you think of any good movies based on sports.