Sachin: A Billion Dreams
"Sachin: A Billion Dreams" is a documentary on the life and career of Sachin Tendulkar, a man who is pretty much universally agreed to be one of the best players in the history of cricket. Two quotes from the film particularly stand out for me: "Sachin is not just a man, he is an emotion" and the late Donald Bradman's "I never saw myself play, but if I had, I imagine it would look something like Tendulkar". Praise indeed from statistically the all best batsman in the sport.
It's a story mostly narrated in Tendulkar's own words, with a dramatic reconstruction of how a mischievous young kid grew into a supreme sporting talent. It probably shouldn't work but it does and alongside archival footage you get the sense of a man who has a supreme sense of confidence and faith in his own ability.
OJ Simpson has been in my head a lot of late and feel Tendulkar's journey is an interesting contrast. The movie touches upon the idea that India was a country still finding its identity in the late 80s and early 90s when Sachin first arrived on the scene. Consequently, there had never been a sports star like him before in Asia, much as there had never been a sports star like OJ before in the US. Similarly, he also became the subject of his country's first real commercial deals. There's now huge money in the Indian Premier League and it's difficult to envisage that coming about without Tendulkar.
In any event, his story has had a much happier ending than Simpson's, in part down to his family who seem to have been a grounding influence on him, whilst Sachin has been married to the same woman for more than 20 years. Consequently there isn't a great deal of turmoil in this piece and I've seen a few comments suggesting that the film has little to offer die hard fans who are already familiar with much of the material.
But it's an interesting and well constructed movie for the layman and you'd need to have a heart of stone to not be moved by Tendulkar winning the Cricket World Cup in Mumbai with India at the final attempt in 2011, or by his farewell speech at his last test match in 2013. I think this documentary will interest casual sports fans like me and may prove nostalgic for cricket aficionados but is accessible enough for non-diehards too.
It's a story mostly narrated in Tendulkar's own words, with a dramatic reconstruction of how a mischievous young kid grew into a supreme sporting talent. It probably shouldn't work but it does and alongside archival footage you get the sense of a man who has a supreme sense of confidence and faith in his own ability.
OJ Simpson has been in my head a lot of late and feel Tendulkar's journey is an interesting contrast. The movie touches upon the idea that India was a country still finding its identity in the late 80s and early 90s when Sachin first arrived on the scene. Consequently, there had never been a sports star like him before in Asia, much as there had never been a sports star like OJ before in the US. Similarly, he also became the subject of his country's first real commercial deals. There's now huge money in the Indian Premier League and it's difficult to envisage that coming about without Tendulkar.
In any event, his story has had a much happier ending than Simpson's, in part down to his family who seem to have been a grounding influence on him, whilst Sachin has been married to the same woman for more than 20 years. Consequently there isn't a great deal of turmoil in this piece and I've seen a few comments suggesting that the film has little to offer die hard fans who are already familiar with much of the material.
But it's an interesting and well constructed movie for the layman and you'd need to have a heart of stone to not be moved by Tendulkar winning the Cricket World Cup in Mumbai with India at the final attempt in 2011, or by his farewell speech at his last test match in 2013. I think this documentary will interest casual sports fans like me and may prove nostalgic for cricket aficionados but is accessible enough for non-diehards too.
Comments
Post a Comment