19 Bollywood Films Which Were Inspired By The Game Of Cricket

Directed by Neeraj Pandey, this film is a biopic which narrates the journey of current Indian cricket captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni who is considered India’s most successful captain. Actor Sushant Singh Rajput portrays the role of the cricketer in the film which went on to become a raging success.

A docu-drama cum biography of former cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar who played for India for 24 long years. The film tells the story of the batting genius who became a child prodigy at a very young age to his last day of playing cricket.

One of the most awaited movies of the year which is based on the controversial former cricket captain, Mohammad Azharuddin who was banned for life for fixing-matches. The film is about his professional as well as personal life which was full of ups and downs. The lead role is played by Emraan Hashmi and supported by Nargis Fakhri and Prachi Desai.

Directed by Abhishek Kapoor, the film which was set during the India versus Australia Test Series in 2001 at Ahmedabad was based on Chetan Bhagat's novel The 3 Mistakes of My Life, where a group of three friends set up a cricket academy to train talented locals. Featuring Sushant Singh Rajput, Rajkummar Rao and Amit Sadh, the film faired rather well at the box-office.

The movie dealt with the story of Parghat Singh Kahlon (Akshay Kumar) who is a budding bowler and stays along with his strict father Gurtej Singh Kahlon (Rishi Kapoor) in England who detests the English. Parghat is called upon to play for England but not before chalking a plan to keep his father away from the TV. Directed by Nikhil Advani, the film despite being a decent entertainer tanked at the box-office.

Another cricket drama film which was directed by Rajesh Mapuskar where Sharman Joshi plays a doting father to his son Kayo who is a budding cricketer. To generate funds to make his son play along with Sachin Tendulkar at Lords, he steals Sachin’s Ferrari for a day, and what follows is a string of hilarious situations.

This Yash Raj film had Shahid Kapoor and Rani Mukerji in pivotal roles where Rani plays a young village girl who pretends to be a man to join the all-male village cricket team who prepare to beat the neighboring Pakistan village in a traditional cricket match. The film met with a lukewarm response at the box-office.

Directed by Ajit Pal Mangat, Victory was made and released to cash in on the IPL craze which had taken the country by storm. With an ensemble cast of cricketing legends, the film featured Harman Baweja, Amrita Rao and Anupam Kher in the lead roles. The story dealt with the subject of a struggling cricketer who fights against all odds including his injury to come out a winner in the end. The film almost went unnoticed at the box-office.

Mandira Bedi plays a cricket fanatic and an Anil Kumble fan who can do anything for the love of the sport. She is romantically paired opposite Eijaz Khan who after a few twists and turns finally marries him. Former cricketer Anil Kumble plays a cameo in the film.

This Kunal Deshmukh directorial starring Emraan Hashmi and debutant Sonal Chauhan dealt with the convoluted world of cricket betting. Emraan plays a small time punter who enters the big bad world of cricket betting to reach dizzy heights but finally pays a heavy price by losing his life. The film did decent business and made way for its sequel a few years later.

This Subhash Kapoor directed film involved two local schools namely - Royal Heritage School and Adarsh Vidya Mandir, who clash in the finals of a cricket match. Royal Heritage School which is coached by Sanjay Suri finally beats old rivals Adarsh Vidya Mandir to lift the cup. Though the film was refreshing in parts it failed to get the cash registers ringing.

A rather weird title which didn’t have anything to do with this Kittu Saluja directed film that starred Rahul Bose and Zain Khan. The film was about a 13-year old boy who gets hold of a discarded ‘magic bat’ which Kapil Dev had used while playing his epic 175 not out during the 1983 World Cup. He is helped by Rahul Bose who together help India win against Pakistan. Kapil Dev makes a guest appearance in the film as well.

Iqbal (Shreyas Talpade) is a deaf and dumb cricketer who is opposed by his father to play cricket. But with the support of his coach, sister and mother he turns into an amazingly fast bowler. He dreams of playing for India but finds it hard to reach the top as he gets to face a lot of politics and favoritism at the top among the selectors.

Set during the 1999 Cricket World Cup, Stumped is a story of a newly married couple who shift into a new housing society where everyone is crazy about cricket. The Kargil war breaks out when the husband who is serving in the army gets a call to report for duty. He leaves his wife in the care of the society people and goes to war. While the society people are watching the India vs Pakistan match it is disclosed on TV that her husband is missing in action. India wins but the whole society is plunged in sorrow.

Directed by Kawal Sharma, Maalamaal is about Raj Kumar (Naseeruddin Shah) who is an orphan staying in a slum, suddenly he discovers that his late grandfather has left a property worth billions for him. To acquire the property his grandfather lays a condition that he will have to spend 30 billion rupees in 30 days. Being a cricket fanatic he organises a cricket match and ropes in Sunil Gavaskar to play along with him.

Director Milan Luthria’s Hattrick dealt with three stories which run parallel to each other that has cricket in common. Starring Paresh Rawal, Rimi Sen, Kunal Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Danny Denzongpa, this comedy drama displayed how cricket has become an integral part of our lives.

Director Ashutosh Gowariker’s period drama set in the British-Raj where a group of villagers based in Champaner take up the challenge of playing a cricket match against the British to waive-off their taxes for three years. The cricket match between the two sets the tone of this all time classic film.

Directed by Mohan Kumar, the story of All - Rounder revolves around two brothers Birju (Vinod Mehra) and and Ajay (Kumar Gaurav) who come from a poor middle class family. Ajay loves cricket, so Birju encourages him and sacrifices a lot to see his brother play for India. Ajay ultimately realizes his dream and plays for India after overcoming all obstacles.

DIG Vikram Singh (Dev Anand) has been assigned the task to catch the terrorists who plan to bomb blast the stadium where India and Australia are going to play a one-day match. Making his debut in the match is Sunny (Aamir Khan) who has replaced Ronny (Aditya Pancholi). Ronny out of jealousy tries to disrupt the match but fails.