Hyderabad: For an athlete who wants to reach the top levels of the sport, there are a lot of struggles he or she has to go through. However, his all hardships become worthy when he makes his career illustrious with multiple achievements. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to inform the masses about the struggles sportspersons face as the stories of many remain unknown. In such cases, movies play a key role in informing the public about the sporting heroes.
In the last 11 years, multiple movies have propagated the stories of Indian female athletes including the likes of Mary Kom and Geeta Phogat. Thus, the article lists out the movies based on the real-life stories of female athletes which depict the hardships, they face throughout their lives.
Mary Kom - Boxing
The film based on the life of five-time World Champion Mary Kom was released in 2014. The film was directed by Omang Kumar and is produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. Priyanka Chopra is in the lead role. The film shows Mary Kom’s journey of winning five titles after cloning from a poor farming family in Manipur.
Mary was into sports since childhood but she made up her mind to become a boxer after fellow Manipuri Dingko Singh won the gold medal in the 1988 Asian Games held in Bangkok. In order to become a successful boxer, she joined Imphal Sports Academy at the age of 15. She won a silver medal in the inaugural World Boxing Championships in 2001 and started her journey to eight medals in the history of the tournament.
Dangal - Geeta And Babita Phogat (Wrestling)
This Hindi-language film was released in 2016 and was directed by Nitish Tiwary. Amir Khan has played the role of Mahavir Phogat. The story revolves around the daughters of Mahavir - Geeta and Babita.
Geeta made history at the 2010 Commonwealth Games by winning gold in the women’s 55 Kg. It was the first gold medal by a female Indian wrestler at the Commonwealth Games. Babita Phogat won silver in the 51 Kg category.
Chakda Express - Jhulan Goswami (Cricket)
The film directed by Prosit Roy is a sports drama film which features Anushka Sharma in the lead role. The movie is a tale of sacrifice based on the life journey of former India women’s captain and pace bowler Jhulan Goswami. Jhulan has the most wickets in international cricket with 355 scalps across all formats. She has picked 255 wickets from 204 ODIs and 58 wickets from 68 T20Is.
Saina - Saina Nehwal (Badminton)
The film released on 2021 was a sports film directed by Amol Gupte. Parineeti Chopra was in the lead role in the film.
Saina Nehwal is the first-ever Indian badminton player from the country to win an Olympic medal. She inked history by winning a bronze medal at the London 2012 Games. Also, she has won a couple of medals in the BWF World Championships winning a silver and bronze medal. She bagged silver in 2015 and a bronze medal in 2017. Saina created a legacy for generations to come and many Indian shuttlers have risen through the ranks after that.
Shabaash Mithu - Mithali Raj (Cricket)
The film is based on the life of Mithali Raj which is directed by Shrijit Mukherjee. Taapsee Pannu is in lead role in the movie. The former Indian women team’s captain has scored most runs in the women’s ODIs (7805) and longest career in the format (22 years and 747 days). She amassed 7805 runs from 232 ODIs and 2364 runs from 89 T20Is scripting multiple records on his way.
