Bollywood has made quite a lot of movies based on sports. Not only that, but it has also tried to touch almost all sorts of themes and issues; some of them have gained a box office hit while a few have failed to stand out.
Everyone loves sports-based movies as they often portray the real life of some sports personalities.
It will be true to say that there are plenty of great Hollywood movies based on sports that are streaming on Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO or Hulu.
Bollywood isn’t far behind in this genre. They have quite a lot, and in this blog post, I am going to recommend some of the best Bollywood movies based on sports.
Best Bollywood movies based on sports
M.S Dhoni: The Untold Story
IMDB Rating: 7.7
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Kiara Advani, Anupam Kher, and Disha Patani
Cricket personality M.S Dhoni isn’t an unknown figure to the nation. He is one of the best Indian international cricketers who has remained a captain of the Indian National team for a long time.
The movie is a 2016 biographical sports film based on M.S Dhoni’s chronicles of life from his childhood till how he became one of the most recognized cricketers ever.
The movie became a massive hit in the box office because of a brilliant performance by Sushant Singh Rajput, mind-blowing screenplay, and crores of fans who went to watch Dhoni’s biopic.
The entire movie is so gripping, and it will let to inspire how a middle-class young man became what he is today.
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
IMDB Rating: 8.2
Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor
Mehra’s Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a biopic of Milkha Singh, based on his biopic novel ‘The Race of My Life by Milkha Singh.
The movie is devoted to showcasing legendary Indian athlete Milkha Singh’s life post-partition in Delhi, where he spent his childhood in poverty and violence and his journey towards becoming India’s most iconic athlete.
The story of the film is emotionally absorbing, where we see Farhan Akhtar playing the role of Milkha Singh in utmost dedication.
‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ is indeed one of the best Bollywood movies based on sports. Also, it is Farhan Akhtar’s best performance in his entire career.
In the film, one of the best parts to watch is Akhtar’s rigorous training as Milkha Singh. More than the story, the filmmaking is what worth appreciable.
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Dangal
IMDB Rating: 8.4
Director: Nitesh Tiwari
Cast: Aamir Khan, Sakshi Tanwar, Sanya Malhotra, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Aparshakti Khurana, Zaira Wasim, Suhani Bhatnagar, Ritvik Sahore
2016 Bollywood sports drama movie ‘Dangal’ is one of the highest-grossing Indian film ever. The movie was made on a budget of 70 crores and it crossed a profit amount of over 2000 crore.
Can you imagine?
The movie deserves to be the best in every aspect. The story of the film is based on a former Indian wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat who battles the status quo to train her two daughters from a very young age to be the world’s best women wrestler today.
Aamir Khan played the role of father Mahavir Singh Phogat perfectly well. Aamir Khan is known as a perfectionist.
In all his movies, he always tries his best to do justice with his character. Not only that, but he also gets involves in nurturing other supporting characters too.
Dangal is fun and a thrill to watch. Both Zaira Wasim and Suhani Bhatnagar as the young Geeta and Babita Phogat performed exceedingly well.
The movie mainly focuses on the inequality and female illiteracy rate in Haryana.
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Mary Kom
IMDB Rating: 6.8
Director: Omung Kumar
Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Sunil Thapa, Robin Das, Darshan Kumaar
Mary Kom is a 2014 biographical sports drama film that focuses on the chronicles of Indian boxer Mary Kom’s struggled life and how she became a boxing champion of India.
Mary Kom’s story is motivational, emotional, and gives us a glimpse of the Manipur lifestyle.
Priyanka Chopra in the lead role playing Mary Kom is a treat to watch. She has thrown herself in rigorous training, gave all her heart and dedication to play the role picture-perfect.
Mary Kom is the first Bollywood woman boxing biographical film that is beautiful, and with Priyanka Chopra’s energetic performance, it stands out well in the box office.
Paan Singh Tomar
IMDB Rating: 8.2
Director: Tigmanshu Dhulia
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Mahie Gill in the lead
Irrfan Khan starring Paan Singh Tomar, is based on the true story of Indian athlete Paan Singh Tomar. He was a soldier in the Indian Army and won a gold medal in the steeplechase in the Indian National Games.
But upon returning to his village, he gets involved in settling family disputes with Bhanwar Singh. When the situation gets worst, he was forced to become a rebel against the corrupt system.
Late Irrfan Khan’s performances in every film is a pleasure to watch. Paan Singh Tomar is his career’s one of the best films ever.
The film also won the National Film Awards in the category of Best Feature Film and Best Actor.
Soorma
IMDB rating: 7.4
Director: Shaad Ali
Cast: Diljit Dosanjh, Taapsee Pannu, Angad Bedi
Soorma is a heart-warming and emotional movie that tells the story of Indian hockey player Sandeep Singh and his chronicles of life.
Many might not have heard of Sandeep Singh; he is a renowned hockey player who played for India.
The movie shares a part of his life when in 2006, he was at the pick of his career, and he got shot accidentally while traveling in the Shatabdi Express.
Diljit Dosanjh played the lead character with all dedication and with an effortless effort. He portrayed the pain, anger, and struggle of a paralyzed Sandeep Singh perfectly well that connects the audience.
The movie is an underrated Indian film that gained less exposure, but it’s an inspirational and a good Bollywood movie based on sports.
Chak De India
IMDB Rating: 8.2
Director: Shimit Amin
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan in the lead
2007 Bollywood sports-drama movie ‘Chak De India’ is one of the best movies where Shah Rukh Khan has given an outstanding performance.
It is a story of a disgraced Indian Hockey team captain Kabir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) who, after years, took an assignment of coaching the Indian women’s hockey team.
We get to see 16 girls on the field who came from different backgrounds and classes. But they a mess on the field, eventually it is coach Kabir Khan who guided them and trained them to play for the country.
The movie has the heart and soul, although a bit dramatic at some scenes but overall an excellent feel-good Bollywood movie to watch.
Iqbal
IMDB Rating: 8.1
Director: Nagesh Kukunoor
Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Naseeruddin Shah, Shweta Basu Prasad
Iqbal is 2005 critically acclaimed Bollywood film based on a cricket-lover young boy Iqbal. He has hearing and speech difficulty but dreams of playing in the Indian Cricket Team.
Iqbal is one of Indian cinema’s great coming of age sports drama that everyone should watch at least once in their lifetime.
The movie did receive several awards in different categories: Naseeruddin Shah got the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor and Nagesh Kukunoor for Best Film.
Sultan
IMDB Rating: 7.0
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar
Cast: Salman Khan, Randeep Hooda, Anushka Sharma
Salman Khan starring ‘Sultan,’ is yet another one of the highest-grossing film of the Bollywood industry that tells the story of a passionate Sultan, former wrestler tells his life story in flashbacks.
In the flashback, we have also seen Aarfa (Anushka Sharma) playing the role of a passionate wrestler who is extremely good in her position.
The movie contains humor, drama, romance, heartbreaking story, and action as you see it is a complete package.
‘Sultan’ is not a biopic film, but the story is based on sports. The movie having a predictable storyline until it reaches the climax. The first half of the movie is entertaining and fun to watch, but the second half is when it tells the story.
Gold
IMDb rating: 7.3
Director: Reema Kagti
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Mouni Roy, Amit Sadh, and Kunal Kapoor
Bollywood movie ‘Gold’ is a fictional story that is inspired by true events and people.
Akshay Kumar is playing the character of team manager Tapan Das, who is in charge of assembling the country’s first all-Indian Hockey team.
He faces several challenges, but he manages them all and lead our country on the international ground and help to win a gold medal for the country is all about the film.
Although the movie didn’t do well in the box office still a one-time watch film on sports.
Mukkabaaz
IMDB Rating: 8.0
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Vineet Kumar, Jimmy Shergill, Zoya Hussain
The 2017 Bollywood boxing based movie ‘Mukkabaaz’ has a solid storyline and performance by Vineet Kumar.
Actor Vineet Kumar isn’t a reputed actor, but with his compelling performance as Shravan Kumar in the movie, he has proved his acting skill and stood out to be one of the best actors.
The movie received mostly positive reviews from the audience. The story revolves around the character Shravan Kumar; an aspiring boxer gets into a rivalry with a powerful local personality Bhagwan Das Mishra.
Things get messier when he falls in love with his niece.
‘Mukkabaaz’ is underrated, so do watch the film only because of Vineet Kumar’s mind-blowing performance.
Budhia Singh: Born to run
IMDB Rating: 7.7
Director: Soumendra Padhi
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Gajraj Rao, Mayur Mahendra Patole
Director Soumendra Padhi’s movie is a National Award-winning film that tells a tragic story of a five year-old-boy Budhia Singh and his mentor coach Biranchi Das.
Budhia Singh is the only youngest record-breaker marathoner who achieves fame and glory for his ability to run tirelessly for hours.
Manoj Bajpayee, as Biranchi Das, is dynamite and pulled the movie to another level.
Unfortunately, these kinds of motivational and good movies don’t get many sights and gain exposure.
Saala Khadoos
IMDB Rating: 7.6
Director: Sudha Kongara
Cast: Madhavan, Radha Ravi
Saala Khadoos is an Indian boxing-based movie that R. Madhavan has nailed it.
The story follows a cynical boxer turned coach Adi Tomar (Madhavan), who got transferred to Chennai in search of a good fighter, although the movie failed to make a mark.
The predictable screenplay, uninteresting climax, and poor debut performance of Ritika Singh couldn’t lift the film. The only USP of this film is R. Madhavan, who tried his best to save the movie with his performance, but that wasn’t enough.
But when talking about movies that are based on sports, Saala Khadoos should be considered watching one-time.
Lagaan
IMDB Rating: 8.1
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh and other multiple supporting casts
Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan set during the British Raj is a beautiful movie to watch.
Bhuvan, a farmer, challenges one of the Captain that if he and his team beat Captain Russell’s team in cricket, then the villagers won’t pay taxes for three years.
Although the movie is long and might feel a bit boring, a great movie that has inexplicably showed how cricket being played in that era.
The movie also gets nominated for an Academy Award in the category for the Best Foreign-language Film.
Conclusion:
There are several other Bollywood movies based on sports but the above mentioned are the list of best that I recommend.