For an industry that keeps reinventing the wheel, as far as showcasing heroism is concerned, Telugu cinema hasn’t quite embraced sports dramas. Ironically, one of the earliest instances of a true blue sports-based biopic was made in Telugu when former athlete Ashwini Nachappa played herself in a sports drama titled Ashwini (1991).
Although there have been a select few films like Guru, Sye, Golconda High School, Bheemli Kabbadi Jattu, Okkadu, Amma Nanna O Tamil Ammayi, and Thammudu over the past two decades, Telugu filmmakers and actors haven’t explored the genre consistently, until now.
In April alone, Tollywood saw Naga Chaitanya turn cricketer for Majili, and Nani starrer Jersey had the actor playing an ageing cricketer who makes a dramatic comeback to a Ranji team. And then, there’s the Aishwarya Rajesh starrer Mismatch which has her playing a wrestler, apart from the Telugu remake of her Tamil cricket-based film, Kanaa; an untitled boxing drama starring Varun Tej; and a biopic of Pullela Gopichand, starring Sudheer Babu in the making.
With films like Majili and Jersey striking a chord with the audience this year, many believe that the sports drama might very well be the next big thing in Telugu cinema. Talking about the latest trend of sports dramas in Telugu, Nani says, “I didn’t know that there was a trend of sports dramas in Telugu in the first place. When Gowtam narrated the story, I felt it was both beautiful and a challenging film for me as an actor. It’s only then that it struck me that there are very few Telugu films which focus on sports. It’s high time we made sports dramas in Telugu, rather than just enjoy watching them when they are made in other languages.”
Jersey is a true blue sports drama and the team went all out to make it look as authentic as possible. The makers had the support of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to use its logos, and a big segment of the film was shot in Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad. Nani himself had to undergo rigorous training at Daniels Cricket Academy for nearly 70 days to prepare for his role as a cricketer.
“It was not about just playing cricket which I knew. I would be lying if I said that I knew how to play cricket at a professional level. My training at Daniels Academy helped me get my body language right. Everything had to look so convincing that you should believe that Arjun (his character in Jersey) is truly a player who deserves to win. Both Gowtam and I were clear that it was vital because if the audience don’t believe that Arjun is a good cricketer, then they won’t root for anything else in the film,” Nani adds.
Prior to Jersey’s release, there was a lot of chatter about it sharing some thematic similarities with the Naga Chaitanya-Samantha starrer Majili since both the films had cricket as a backdrop. However, Gowtam Tinnanuri, director of Jersey, avers that it was just a coincidence that both the films had their protagonists as cricketers.
“Although both the films released around the same time, I’m sure that the thought of making a cricket-based film would have been playing on Shiva Nirvana’s (director of Majili) mind for a long time now. It’s the same in my case, too. There were no recent blockbusters in Telugu which kick-started this trend of sports dramas in the industry. And back when I started writing the script, there weren’t as many Telugu films in this genre either. What made Jersey different, from my point of view, is that this was more about one person and how he evolves over a period of time, rather than how a team comes together. The idea was to make a film about a late bloomer who is also an underdog, and cricket was a good backdrop to narrate the story. Even though there’s a will to succeed, the biggest hurdle is that the age and physical fitness are not in your control in such a scenario,” Gowtam explains.
For Shiva Nirvana, director of Majili, the decision to choose cricket as a backdrop was a combination of his love for the game and a protagonist who had to be ambitious and energetic.
“As a nation, we have an emotional connection to cricket, and I’m no different. With cricket as a backdrop, Majili became an universal concept. Since the film touches upon the protagonist, Poorna’s tryst with love and marriage, adding sports as a key element changed the emotional conflict in the story. We have had quite a few romantic films over the years, but the moment you have some sport as an intrinsic part of the story, it changes the colours of the narrative,” Shiva Nirvana says.
Meanwhile, Varun Tej spent nearly two months in Los Angeles to prepare for his role as a boxing professional under the aegis of Olympic medalist Tony Jeffries at Box N Burn, LA. To be directed by newcomer Kiran Korrapati, the untitled film is going to be Varun’s first brush with a sports film. While the film is expected to go on floors later this year, the actor has reportedly undergone a lot of transformation to play the part.
On the other hand, Aishwarya Rajesh is fast becoming the go-to-actor for women's sports films, with two projects to her credit already. She won rave reviews for her performance in Kanaa, a Tamil film based on women’s cricket, and only time will tell how her Telugu films will shape up.
Apart from these actors, several others stars have evinced their interest to be part of sports films. In a recent interaction with the media, Samantha confessed that she’s eager to be part of a sports drama. “I’m quite athletic and I’m totally into fitness. And I believe, given enough time, I can learn the basics of any sport. A sports drama is both exciting and inspiring to be part of, and I’m hoping that I’ll get to do something soon,” she said.
Another actor, Akhil Akkineni, too, is said to be in talks for a sports film; however, he wants to be more cautious in his approach before taking up a project. “I play cricket and I would love to do a sports film; however, it’s also important to see who’s going to direct the film and how strong the technical team is, and whether they understand the game. A lot of research has to go into it. It’s not that easy to make a sports film,” Akhil said.
For now, the success of Majili and Jersey has shown that the time is ripe for more filmmakers and actors to jump into the bandwagon. “It’s good that people have accepted this genre whole-heartedly. I hope a lot more sports-based films get made in near future. There are so many stories that are waiting to be told,” Nani says, putting things in perspective.
Hemanth Kumar C R is a Hyderabad based film journalist. He writes about Telugu cinema on most days, and when he doesn’t, one can find him talking about Game Of Thrones, chai, books, and digging into all things related to history.