'Saina' to 'Sultan': 11 sports films from Bollywood that changed the game

SAINA (2021): The emotional trailer for Parineeti Chopra's sports biopic 'Saina' dropped yesterday, and fans are excited to get a glimpse into the real-life story of Indian professional badminton player Saina Nehwal, who emerged from a small village only to make history as the world No 1 badminton player. Ahead of its release later this month, here are 10 other Bollywood sports films to binge.

SOORMA (2018): After an incident leaves passionate hockey player Sandeep Singh in a wheelchair, he has to fight his way back into the sport. Inspired by a true story, the film stars Diljit Dosanjh as the protagonist and Taapsee Pannu as his love interest.

GOLD (2018): Historical sports drama stars Akshay Kumar as hockey coach Tapan Das — inspired by legendary real-life hockey player Kishan Lal — who leads India's inaugural national hockey team to their first gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

SULTAN (2016): Salman Khan stars as fictional middle-aged pehlwani wrestler Salman Ali Khan, who tries to escape a lonely life, defy all odds and make a comeback by representing India at the Olympics. Along the way, he meets Anushka Sharma's Aarfa, a young woman passionate about her own wrestling dreams.

DANGAL (2016): Inspired by the real-life Phogat family of six sisters who are all wrestlers, 'Dangal' centres around Aamir Khan as Mahavir Singh Phoghat, an amateur pehlwani wrestler training his daughers, Geeta (Fatima Sana Shaikh) and Babita (Sanya Malhotra), to become India's first world-class female wrestlers.

MARY KOM (2014): With Priyanka Chopra's controversial casting as accomplished amateur boxer Mary Kom who hails from northeastern India, this biographical sports drama tells the true story of a determined young woman who wrestled against every obstacle to achieve her dreams, despite the disapproval of her father, a rice farmer from Manipur.

BHAAG MILKHA BHAAG (2013): Based on the real-life story of Milkha Singh, an Indian track and field sprinter who made it to the Olympics, this Farhan Akhtar-starrer was inspired by Singh's autobiography 'The Race of my Life', co-written with daughter Sonia Sanwalka.

PAAN SINGH TOMAR (2012): Starring late actor Irrfan Khan in the lead role, the film tells the tumultuous true story of Paan Singh Tomar, whose running skills were discovered while he was a soldier in the Indian Army, leading him to win a gold medal at the Indian National Games, before being forced to become a notorious outlaw.

CHAK DE! INDIA (2007): Arguably the most popular fictional sports film from Bollywood to date, 'Chak De! India' follows Shah Rukh Khan as patriotic hockey coach Kabir Khan. The ostracised former captain of the Indian men's national field hockey team takes the Indian women's national field hockey team under his wing.

IQBAL (2005): A coming-of-age sports drama, 'Iqbal' follows cricket-obsessed young boy Shreyas Talpade, who is deaf and has a speech disability, as he breaks out of a remote village in India to achieve his dream of playing for the national cricket team.

LAGAAN (2001): Starring Aamir Khan, who appears twice on this list, 'Lagaan' is an epic sports film set in a small village in Central India in 1893; when a British army officer challenges inhabitants to a high-stakes game of cricket, whose result could mean a dismissal of the taxes they owe, the villagers have to learn to play the game as best as they can.