‘Maidaan’: 10 Sports Dramas That You Must Watch Before Seeing Ajay Devgn’s Football Movie

Based on the life of a football coach Syed Abdul Rahim, portrayed by Ajay Devgn, ‘Maidaan’ is gearing up for its release soon. The movie is directed by Amit Sharma and co-stars Priyamani and Gajraj Rao.

Before this, however, there have been some iconic and chartbusting sport dramas from the industry. Let’s take a look at 10 such sport-films that must be on your watchlist:

Depicting a fictional story of a hockey player turned coach, ‘Chak De! India’ is one of the classics from Bollywood. The story is about Kabir Khan, a loyal Indian hockey player outcasted under false accusation of prejudice. He takes up coaching of 16 Indian women hockey players, from diverse backgrounds, and makes it his mission to make them world champions. The movie is highly intriguing, emotional and highlights the personal turmoils while playing for your nation. It is considered as one of the best performances of Shah Rukh Khan till date.

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Sagarika Ghatge, Vidya Malvade, Chitrashi Rawat and more

Running Time: 2 hours 29 minutes

Available On: Prime Video

The biographical sports film directed by Rakeysh Mehra is based on the life story of Olympic athlete Milkha Singh aka The Flying Sikh. It is also based on the book ‘The Race of My Life’ writted by Singh himself and his daughter Sonia. The picture takes us on an emotional, inspiring and robust ride of the Olympics winner right from his childhood during the India-Pakistan division to his Olympic victories. The film was critically acclaimed for the actors performances, direction, adaptation and music as well.

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Divya Dutta, Sonam Kapoor

Running Time: 3 hours 6 minutes

‘Mary Kom’ is a biographical sports drama based on World Boxing Championship winner Mary Kom. The film follows the footsteps of the legendary sports icon from her small town in Manipur to the world stage. It imbibes the true emotions of her struggles being from a small town, hardships faced in sports field and personal life. It ranks among the highest-grossing female-led films.

Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Darshan Kumar, Sunil Thapa

Running Time: 2 hours 2 minutes

Available On: Netflix

Based on the life of Mohammad Azharuddin, former captain of the Indian National Cricket team, ‘Azhar’ is directed by Anthony D’Souza. It tells the story of the cricketer from the point of view of his cricket career, personal life and scandals surrounding it and the match-fixing charges that were pinned on him. Overall the film makes a good one time watch and captures the audiences heart with melodious songs.

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Lara Dutta, Prachi Desai, Nargis Fakhri

Running Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Available On: Youtube (rental)

The Neeraj Pandey directorial is a feature adaptation of one of the most loved and iconic cricketers of India, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Becoming the sixth highest-grossing Indian film of 2016, ‘M. S. Dhoni: The Untold Story’ was acclaimed for the portrayal of the cricket by Sushant Singh Rajput, screenplay and songs. The movie takes us deeper into the life of the former Indian team captain for Test, ODI and T20. Right from his childhood, life as a ticket collector in the Indian railways to his famous ‘helicopter shot’ in 2011 World Cup Finals, the film is an inspiring biographical gift to the Indian cinema.

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Kiara Advani, Disha Patani, Anupam Kher and more

Running Time: 3 hours 10 minutes

Available On: Disney+ Hotstar

‘Dangal’ is the real-life story of a father who trains his daughters to be the stars of wrestling world. It showcases the will of Mahavir Singh Phogat who considers his daughters no less and makes them the first ever female world-class wrestlers of India, Geeta Phogat and Babita Kumari. The film was highly well received by the audiences for the storytelling of Nitesh Tiwari, outstanding acting performances by the adult and child actors and music. Till date it remains the only film from India to have crossed Rs 2000 crore mark. It is a must watch film for Aamir Khan fans.

Cast: Aamir Khan, Zaira Wasim, Suhani Bhatnagar, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sanya Malhotra, Sakshi Tanwar and more

Running Time: 2 hours 41 minutes

Available On: Prime Video (rental)

 ‘Gold’ is not just a film but it is the story of a man’s journey filled with determination and willpower to earn his country the ‘gold’ medal. Based on true life events and the 1948 Summer Olympics of the Indian hockey team, ‘Gold’ is a fictional take of the same. It shows the creation of that bond between the team, the struggle of doing that and taking the team to the Olympics of a single man, Tapan Das, and finally writing the name of ‘India’ on the hockey gold medal.

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Mouni Roy, Sunny Kaushal, Kunal Kapoor and more

Running Time: 2 hours 31 minutes

Available On: YouTube (rental)

Starring Farhan Akhtar in the lead role, ‘Toofan’ is a fictional sports drama. It is about Aziz Ali an extortionist turned boxer. The story revolves around Ali being a goon and beating up shopkeepers for money to embracing boxing as his lifesaver. He turns his life around and starts helping orphans as well. The story continues with his struggles during transformation and boxing championship.

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Mrunal Thakur, Jatin Sapru, Darshan Kumar

Running Time: 2 hours 42 minutes

Available On: Prime Video

Telling the story of the Indian Cricket team captain who led the team to their first-ever world cup victory in 1983, ‘83’, is based on the perspective of Kapil Dev. The film takes us behind-the-scenes of the situation and personal struggles that went down before the Indian team lifted the first ever world cup. Seen from the perspective of Kapil Dev, the movie captures the audiences heart with the story how of a team in whom no one believed won not just the world cup but the hearts of millions.

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Harrdy Sandhu, Pankaj Tripathi, Jiiva and more

Running Time: 2 hours 40 minutes

Available On: Disney+Hotstar

Based on his own life and childhood, Mridul Mahendra, has directed ‘Toolsidas Jr’. Even though it could not release in the theatres the film was critically acclaimed after its direct release on Sony Max and then Netflix.

It is about a father-son relationship that got tied over Snooker tournament. Sanjay Dutt steals the show alongwith child actor Varun Buddhadev with their touching and realistic performance on the screen. After his father loses an important tournament, Toolsidas Jr, takes it on himself to make his father proud by winning the title and he gets the best of them, Salaam bhai (Sanjay Dutt) to train him. ‘Toolsidas Jr’ grabbed the Best Hindi Feature Film award at the 68^th National Film Awards.

Cast: Rajiv Kapoor, Varun Buddhadev, Dalip Tahil, Sanjay Dutt

Running Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Available On: Netflix

Have you watched these sports-dramas? Which is the one that you can watch for 10 times and still not get bored of it?