Will Smith Takes On the NFL, Here’s Bollywood’s Take On the IPL

What would a Bollywood film on the IPL look like? The Quint has the answer.

The trailer for Will Smith’s new movie Concussion is out. The film is based on an article in GQ from 2009. It looks at how a young pathologist, Dr Bennet Omalu, discovered what repeated concussions caused by head trauma did to players in the National Football League (NFL), one of the largest sports organisations in the world.

From the trailer, it looks like the film is taking on corruption and vested interests in the highly profitable world of American football.

Now, in India we have our own highly profitable sports league and there is more than enough corruption and drama to spin out a film.

So The Quint looks at what a film on the Indian Premiere League (IPL) will be like, given the nature of Bollywood.

Kaun Banega Nirdeshak?

First things first, who will direct a film on the IPL? It should have glamour, sleaze and, of course, a little bit of judgement. Should it be an Anurag Kashyap hatke take? Or perhaps a Sanjay Leela Bhansali should take on the task of making a visual magnum opus out of cricket stadiums?

While there are many contenders, we feel that the guy most likely to take on the IPL on celluloid is Madhur Bhandarkar. After all, the Page 3 director is an expert on the issue of how a ‘small town’ girl is corrupted by big city sleaze.

The innocent girl becomes a hapless talented boy, based on Sreesanth for example. We see how this young cricketer becomes caught up with cheerleaders, bookies and drugs.

The Small Town Hero Corrupted by the IPL

Our hero will come from a small town and a middle class family with ‘traditional values’. He may even have a precocious sister who gives him annoying tips on his bowling/batting/fielding. After finally making it to the state team, he gets picked for the lucrative and prestigious IPL.

So who should play our small town hero? It has to be someone good looking, but not too glamorous. After much deliberation, we settled on Ranveer Singh.

He can pull off being a likeable small town guy as well as a drug addled sleaze. And his fitness regime clearly rivals that of any sportsperson.

The Female Lead or Moral Compass

As our hero descends to the depths of debauchery, inching his way towards a match-fixing charge, there is one person who stands by him, always urging him to get back on the right path. He, of course, leaves her about halfway through the film for some ‘immoral’ cigarette smoking-type lady. After his redemption, he will go back to her.

Who should be Ranveer Singh’s high school sweetheart? Radhika Apte comes to mind. She has that girl-next-door vibe that the role requires.

And Now, the Villain

Now that we know who the good guys are, we need a villain. A film about the IPL will have a bad guy ‘inspired’ by N Srinivasan, the current and controversial chairman of the BCCI. Now, if you need a baddie in films today, your go-to-guy has to be Prakash Raj.

He has been the baddie in Dabangg 2, Wanted and Singham just to name a few.

Wait! There’s a Surprise Guest Star

There’s no way Madhur Bhandarkar does a movie on the IPL without bringing in Lalit Modi. But which actor can encompass his rather colourful personality? Why, Lalit Modi himself, of course!

And given how hungry the former IPL boss is for publicity and the limelight, there is no doubt he will be only too glad to play the part.

Hey, show him in a favourable light and he may even finance the film.