NEW DELHI : It was an year which saw inspirational stories of real life heroes wow audiences with their message of perseverance and triumph in the face of all odds.
Biopics like ‘Neerja’, ‘Sultan ‘, ‘Dangal ‘, ‘Azhar’, ‘M S Dhoni the untold story ‘ , ‘Aligarh’ ,’Sarbjit’ and ‘the mountain man’ dominated the film discourse in an industry, largely known for its mindless entertainers, larger than life films and ‘popcorn entertainers’.
The fact that a majority of these films, including ‘Neerja’, ‘Sultan ‘, ‘Dangal ‘ and ‘M S Dhoni the untold story’, did extremely good business at the box office is a reflection of the the Hindi cinema coming of age.
The year began with the release of ‘Neerja’, a biopic on the life of Neerja Bhanot, a flight attendant, whose flight from Mumbai to New York was hijacked in Karachi.
Sonam Kapoor played the title character in this film which also starred Shabana Azmi and Shekhar Ravijani in pivotal roles. The movie as well as Sonam’s performance won acclaim from film critics around the world.
Though ‘Neerja’ was a moderate box office success, it emerged as one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films featuring a female protagonist. It earned a gross of Rs 135 crore worldwide.
The year also saw release of ‘Sarbjit’, a biopic on life of Sarabjit Singh, who was convicted by a Pakistani court for spying and terrorism. This film , directed by Omung Kumar (of Mary Kom fame) starred Randeep Hooda as Sarabjit and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan playing his sister, Dalbir.
The film garnered a lot of critical acclaim, especially for the excellent performances by Randeep and Aishwarya. Made on a production budget of Rs 15 crore and marketed at Rs 8 crore, ‘Sarbjit’ premiered at the 69th Cannes Film Festival.
Released on May 20, the film turned out to be a profitable venture at box-office by grossing about Rs 43.88 crore worldwide. For its cinematic brilliance, the film has figured in the long list of Oscars nominations in the best picture category.
The year also saw release of a series of biopics including ‘Sultan ‘, ‘Dangal ‘, ‘Azhar’ and ‘M S Dhoni the untold story ‘ based on life of sports personalities.
While ‘Sultan’ and ‘Dangal’ had wrestling as its backdrop, ‘Azhar’ and ‘M S Dhoni the untold story’ were based on lives of former Indian cricket captain Mohammed azharuddin and India ‘s one-day caption Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Released on May 13, ‘Azhar’ was highly anticipated because of the glorious on-field and scandalous off-field life of the cricketer who was banned from cricket after reported involvement in a match-fixing episode.
Though the film, starring Emraan Hashmi in the title role and peachy despi, Nargis Fakhri and Gautam Gulati in key roles, was a moderate success at the Box Office, it was highly praised for its acting and storytelling style.
Emran’s performance was critically appreciated.
Another notable sports biopic was ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story’, based on the life of Indian cricketer and the current ODI and T20I captain of the Indian national cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Written and directed by Neeraj Pandey, the film starred Sushant Singh Rajput as Dhoni, along with Disha Patani, Kiara Advani, and Anupam Kher in key roles. The film chronicles the life of Dhoni from a young age and the series of life events that finally culminates to his stardom in the realm of cricket.
The year also saw the release of ‘Aligarh’, a film based on life of the esteemed and award winning professor Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras who taught Marathi at Aligarh Muslim University and who was sacked from his position of Reader and Chair of Modern Indian Languages, due to his sexual orientation.
Directed by Hansal Mehta and written by Apurva Asrani. Aligarh starred Manoj Bajpayee and Rajkummar Rao in the lead roles.
Though the film did not perform at the box office as per expectations, it won lot of critical acclaim. The film had its world premiere at the 20th Busan International Film Festival, receiving a standing ovation. The film was released worldwide on February 26 to unanimous critical acclaim. Manoj Bajpayee won huge critical acclaim for his portrayal of Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras. ‘Aligarh’ had its European premi?re at the 59th BFI London Film Festival on 10 October 2015.
The response was generally superlative and the film garnered excellent reviews. It also has the honour of being the only Indian film to open the MAMI film festival since its inception.
The year 2017 will see release of biopics like ‘Haseena: The Queen of Mumbai’, based on the life of Mumbai underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s sister, Haseena. (AGENCIES)
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