“Sachin: A Billion Dreams”. I couldn’t resist myself from watching the biopic on the very first day of the release for various reasons, and trust me, the emotional satisfaction by watching this film took me to a different horizon. It was of course expected to be a winner even before it got off the floors. James Erskine’s film though is a well thought out, sterilized effort that focuses it’s might on the God of Cricket’s strengths-his virtuousness, his respect and love for family, friends and his unswerving commitment to the game of cricket. A career of more than two decades which saw everything in the country starting from the socioeconomic transformation to the change of Governments, At the start of the movie it was ideally shown that India’s biggest grandeur of “unity on diversity” has been incredibly carried by Sachin in the post-independence era. A personality which united a nation irrespective of poverty, hunger, cast, creed and other social problems. A personality who has been India’s biggest adrenaline rush for the entire nation over the years.
Director James Erskine has done a remarkable job to script the amazing journey in just two and a half hours. Considering the impact the little master has in his cricketing career, it was never easy to compile that in such short time.
The most interesting part about Sachin is the fact that the man transformed himself for all the generations. I can still remember, when I started my career as a Journalist at Aajkal newspaper, we used to make a page with separate cut-outs. Now, we all live in the era of news websites and digital media. The concept of journalism has got changed as well, but the craze and magnetic attraction the man has been carrying over the years have been unparalleled. From the era of U-matic video recording cassettes to 4K technology, Sachin has been relevant everywhere. In the earlier days, when he made his debut for the nation, there were hardly one or two cameramen used to travel with the team and number of cameras surpassed two hundred when he hanged his boots. And believe mem the man has really contributed a lot towards this change. He has always led an exemplary life as a dedicated cricketer, a conscientious captain, loving son, devoted brother, caring and committed husband and father and steadfast friend. All those roles come through quite vividly in his biopic.
I can recapitulate the time when Sachin made his debut in 1989, I was giving my first semester as a student and Aamir Khan’s “Kyamat Se Kyamat Tak” was released. Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty were ruling the Indian cinemas and Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohammad Azharuddin, Ravi Shastri, Kris Srikanth like players were superstars of Indian cricket. From that era to leave the game after winning the World Cup in 2011, we all grew up, our lives got changed, but Sachin and his dedication for the game got never changed.
Few days back I was with Sourav Ganguly at his place when he was giving an interview to “India Today”, Sourav was telling an interesting story. In 1992, Sourav was not getting the chance in the first eleven and Sachin used to bat at no.6. Before a match day, Sourav found Sachin doing the shadow practice at midnight. Sachin told him that he is busy in correcting his mistakes before the game begins. He also told him to wake him up the next day after the fall of the 4th wicket. He had merely a sleep for a few hours on his kit bag before going to bat for the country. Such has been the motivation, such has been his persistence. From being the hope of a struggling nation, to the emblem of a country ready to take on the world, from his first 200 in an ODI to the World Cup win in 2011, the film takes you on a fairy tale journey with Sachin. As the narrative progresses, you not only experience Sachin’s growing prowess as a cricketer but also see him getting more and more confident of his Self-worth.
The match fixing controversy was probably the toughest phase of Indian cricket and Sachin broke his silence on that in this movie. His increasing distance with the indicted skipper Mohammad Azharuddin was brilliantly portrayed in the movie when Sachin was talking about his grief and disbelief about the entire incident. As a journalist, I have never heard cricketers like Sachin, Sourav, Dravid or Kumble to get trapped by the bookies, as I believe, the bookies also know the dedication these legends have for the game as well as for their country. The 2007 period when Indian cricket was again in a spot of bother in the reign of Greg Chappell, Sachin sensed the danger. In his biopic thus Sachin detailed how the Aussie legend tried to spoil the cricket of our country.
The weight of Sachin’s bat has always been a talking point. But in his biopic, Sachin said how the bat had become a part of his body. Sachin also said how his dad inspired him to become a good human being first. The pain of losing the captaincy also made an impact in his mind. Sachin unveiled how the decision was taken by keeping him in the dark side. But the selectors might have taken the captaincy away from him, but not his cricket.
The editing is fluid, the present and past mix of home videos, archival match footage and present day shots are definitively emboldened while the background score rises to every proud moment with a symphony of sound and song.
The man who is said to be the “God of Cricket” has led me to the time machine in such a squeaky clean vision of our attachment with the ‘little master’ that you might begin to believe that journey was not easy but thorny. He had to undergo the same agony, frustration and physical pain the others persist.
Though, by skimming through the surface of Sachin’s great life, I felt the biopic could have had more emphasis on Sachin’s memorable last over in the Hero Cup back in 1992. As a journalist, I feel the Hero Cup performance made a huge impact among the mass who started to worship cricket as a religion at that time.
The background score and the “Sachin..! Sachin..!” chant introduced by the great AR Rahman gave goosebumps, a mix of nostalgia and Rahman’s brilliancy does justice to Sachin’s film. You live the moments and you feel the moments.
From switching on your Radio or Doordarshan to finally watching the world cup on a LED in 2011, Sachin’s journey follows just that and covered almost every crucial detail in Indian Cricket history since his arrival in this biopic. This movie is a joy-ride, Whether you are a diehard fan of Sachin or not, if you have lived through the ’90s, he has been an emotional part of your life. It’s impossible to be unmoved with his account of life. You will be recapitulating with the famous aura with emotions when you see the clip of him giving the retirement speech in 2013 which ends the movie on a blissful note. I can still recall the moments though. I can remember, I was not in front of the television when Sachin was giving that emotional retirement speech. I was listening to that on the radio. I remember, I parked my car at one side of the road to be a part of that nostalgia. When I was watching the moments in the biopic my eyes became wet again, voice got choked. Sachin Tendulkar is a cricket civilization and this biopic is worth-watching to feel the emotion which united the entire nation for more that two illustrious decades.