**The face of three generations of Indian cricket.**
The Indian film market isn't made for documentary films. If there's an exception, that has to be not just cricket, but Sachin Tendulkar. I know you know that India is a vast cultural diverse country. Hundreds of language, ethnic, religion, caste, in so many ways, so many people split over the things. But one thing that unites north, south, northeast is the cricket. The '83 World Cup might have been the new beginning, but Sachin was the X factor for the Indian cricket to see a revolution. The sports body saw an opportunity and rebranded themselves with his presence. Because of him, the Indians started to watch cricket, learn cricket. Hence the cricket became a religion and Sachin's a god.
This is the second biographical-sport film about Indian cricket I'm seeing after 'M.S. Dhoni: An Untold Story'. I liked that it wasn't a feature film. Feature films are commercialised, skips parts, alters storyline and characters. Not to forget that there will be boring music tracks if it is an Indian film. Besides, to see the actors in the shoes of real life achievers, not that good as I always say, why did that guy won the Oscar, who just depicted the one who struggled and achieved in the real cruel world. So hats off to the filmmakers for bringing this up in the best way possible.
You could call it a prequel to that Dhoni film. Not just because both the films are about cricket or Indian cricket, but they both ran parallel. In a way they are connected. Except, focused on the different person, and this one had a head start like a decade earlier. Most of the achievers in the sports had began with an unexpected gift at their very young age that steered them to choose an apt career. It could be anything. A badminton racquet or a chessboard or a pair of shoes. For Tendulkar, it was a cricket bat from his big sister. He was a naughty boy till he got that bat. With his brother's support, he took the sport seriously and then everything has changed for him for the next 27 years of his life.
At the age eleven, he first took the bat. Five years later, he was the youngest player to represent his nation. That too was against the arch-rival in their home turf. I don't remember all those, because I was just a baby then. But 6 years later, I joined the fan club of one billion. I'm not a Tendulkar fan, though I always respected him alongside a few other gentlemen like him, Dravid and Dhoni. They're not just the players with good conducts, but rewrote the history. Besides, Nobody needs to be a Tendulkar fan to enjoy his batting. There were many legends before him and after him, but he'd found his own unique place that will be remembered for decades, centuries.
> ❝India played themselves into a situation that was not uncommon in those days. If Tendulkar out, India is out.❞
Being young would have been his advantage, but after getting a captaincy, he had struggled. If you're a 70s, 80s kid grown up in the 90s, then you would know the exact reason. In the late 90s, the match fixing event broke out. I remember my first ever World Cup, the '99 in England. But a sad event surfaced in his life. Even I got emotional while watching that part in this film. Those videos I watched 18 years ago and watching the same clips in this film with a backstory, tell me who won't melt down. A true hero. But the film wasn't just highlighting his achievements, focused on his life journey through the cricket he loved. So you could see everything he'd seen his own eyes, like what his teammates achieved too and he was part of it.
The narration was hopping between the World Cups like the checkpoints. How his cricketing life, as well as personal life shaped every four years were interesting to see. Because he'd started his career at a young age, he saw many teammates come and go. The generation after generation for three, the sport too saw the revolution alongside. During his final days, it was the T20 era. The fearless cricket age. Seeing lots of ups and downs, he'd marked his presence to inspire the future Indian cricketers. Even the Dhoni, Kohli and many legends of todays world cricketers have said that they've got inspiration from him.
They've recreated the his boyhood life with the actors. Only in the initial stage to have a perfect start. Because I guess they didn't have video clips for those sections. Tendulkar was born in an average Indian middle class family. But once his cricketing life began, and getting a popular, at least in the Mumbai region was the turning point. Especially after that dream run-fest with Vinod Kambli.
Where's the Sudhir Chaudhary? Anybody who is familiar with Indian cricket knows that guy. Yeah, he was there for a few seconds, but I anticipated a small brief or mention about him. My experience was good, though listening all the dialogues, even the real clips in Tamil translation looked a bit strange, but nothing wrong.
They'd skipped the IPL part, just like Dhoni's film to make it a united national product. But one of the best parts of that league was, his batting was celebrated even from the opposition fans. So the India united for him, because of him when franchise based regional war were going on. Just over the two hour long, it was a well detailed biopic. If you're an Indian cricket fan, you surely would love it. Even if you're a cricket fan from overseas, there's no reason to ignore it. A must see for all who love this sport, as well as who never heard of it to learn something out of it.
_10/10_
