There has been a spate of movies dedicated to sports or sports stars in the recent past. MS
Dhoni: Untold Story which cracked the box office to Mary Kom and now movies
like 83, Jhund, Kaun Pravin Tambe ,these movies have now created an entirely
different genre. There is a market for such movies nationally and producers can
expect to get a return on their investments. This begs the question why have
movie makers in the Goan film industry not made movies on the icons of sport in
this state. There have been several champions who caught the attention of the
country. From Dilip Sardesai all those years ago to Brahmanand Sankhwalkar who
stood between the goalposts for India and state with great honour and then that
magician with the ball, Bruno Countinho , these are names that still catch the
attention of the public. Film makers in the state had their opinion as to what
would work and what would not.
Rajendra Talak, a director who has made
several movies, said it was important to have enough strong content to make
such a film. He said “Glory was one such movie made in Konkani, I believe the
movie on Pravin Tambe was much better than 83. Yes, Kapil Dev won the world cup
for us but the Tambe story is fascinating. Here is a guy who entered the IPL
after forty and played till he was fifty. How he dealt with the disappointment
in life and what it made him do is very fascinating. It was worthy of a movie.
In Goa, it would be nice of a friend of Brahmanand met with a director and
spoke about some exciting episode in his life, then something could start.
There has to be content that is worthy”. He pointed out that Mary Kom was done
but it did not do great but a movie like Salaa Khadoos was inspiring. He also
went on to say the Goan film industry should make ten films a year and win
national awards thus making them experts in film making. This would then be the
right time to make a sports movie because it had a different rhythm and a lot of
research needed to be conducted. All that made it a challenging task.
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Darshan lolienkar, a filmmaker, felt the paucity of money held
everyone back. He said “It is possible to make a movie on Brahmanand for
example for around fifteen lakhs or up to three crore. If it is a biopic there
will be so many aspects which will have to be included thus increasing the
cost. To make the character similar to how he or she was in real life. There
are so many things and I have not even dared to make one yet.”
Rajesh Pednekar who acted as a coach in the movie Glory said the
movie was based on the campaign to win the 1983 Santosh Trophy which they did.
He said “Making a sports movie is an expensive business and given that the
industry does not get any support from the government makes it tough. Money
that is due to film makers is still due. Many of us do it for the love of
cinema and the language. In the end, like I said, the cost is what keeps people
away.”
Madhav Gad, another filmmaker, said it was important to learn if
the sports icons of the past or the recent past had caught the attention of the
film going public who were essentially in the twenty to thirty age group. He
said “How many will know of Bruno Countinho in that age group. Milkha Singh was
popular because the social media paid attention to him. That gave the producers
the assurance they would get a return on their investment. Glory the film sadly
did not pick up the way it was meant to do so. Remember that people have been
trying to make a film on Parrikar and they are struggling. But I am hopeful,
the situation will improve”.
The
market now is perhaps not in a position to afford a sports movie but perhaps in
time the situation will improve.
