IBMD: Indian Basketball Movie Database

Imagine playing one on one, full-court basketball against the love of your life. You are a beautiful woman and he's a handsome man, and you are not just playing a game, but a game within the game. You want to defeat him, of course, because you're proud, and because he's riled up a gang of children around you to chant "girls can't play basketball". You want to prove them all wrong. But you also want to exert decades of pent-up frustration against this man. This man who was once your best friend, with whom you learned the game and honed your skills. This man, who years later, you find through the game again. And now, there's is something deeper in your connection. A little more chemistry. A little more passion. This isn't just one-on-one basketball. This is the beginning of a love story.

Now imagine you stop what you're doing mid-court to fix your sari.

Yes, you're playing in a sari.

Can you relate to this predicament? Have you ever fought for the game's honour against Cricket? Has basketball ever come in between your ambitions and parenthood? Is your dream to play one-on-one against the opposite sex so that you can eventually fall in love? Can you relate to using the help of a little extra-terrestrial to give your basketball team superpowers to defeat your bigger, badder opponents?

If you answered 'yes' to any of those scenarios above, congratulations, you're a lover of basketball in Indian cinema. As unlikely as it may be, there has been somewhat of an important and hilarious history of hoops and Indian films. Sometimes, basketball is only an important scene in the movie, highlighting the dramatic moment forever in the hearts of me and my fellow 'Hoopistanis'. Sometimes, basketball is a major plot device, setting in motion the cause and effect that leads to redemption or glory or heartbreak or a dance-break.

With this in mind, I present to you the comprehensive and running-list of IBMD, the Indian Basketball Movie Database. Several years ago, I'd written an article called 'Great Moments in Bollywood and Basketball', analysing memorable basketball-related scenes in three hit movies of the past few decades. The IBMD expands on that to include new movies and movies in Indian cinema (sometimes in other languages) outside the 'Bollywood' realm. In almost all these films, basketball was used as a vehicle or a metaphor to show true aspiration, a type of rise in one's status, an entry into an exclusive club. It is always a positive. Basketball mastery - whether used in a serious or a comical pretext, or an absurd one - is portrayed as a very special superpower.

There are many more films/moments out there that I hope to add to keep this list growing. Readers: please send me your suggestions of basketball scenes, not only in Indian cinema (of any language) but also in any streaming shows that we must pay attention to.

With that said, in order of release date, here is the IBMD:

Phool Aur Kaante (1991)

This early 90s hit was emblematic of its era: Action! Romance! Larger than life villains! Ajay Devgan (pre-Devgn) straddling two motorbikes at the same time! Perhaps more known for being Devgn's film debut, Phool Aur Kaante also features perhaps the earliest recorded hoops action in Indian film history, and all within the first fifteen minutes. In one scene, Devgn interrupts a terrible shootaround by his friends by dribbling the ball away into the locker room. In another, he is alone, shooting free throws - on the badminton court - going 4/4 from the line in less than ten seconds. Nothing better than a little a little forlorn basketball to get one's frustrations out, before beating up drug dealers in the very next scene. 

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)

It's only right that we begin with the most influential Indian film ever made about basketball. KKHH was released months after Michael Jordan hit his final shot for the Chicago Bulls, and propelled an entire generation of young Indian players to take up the game (and maybe find love with their childhood bestie in the process). A few years ago, I wrote a long essay 'Kuch Hoops Hota Hai' on the surprising legacy of this Karan Johar hit on Indian basketball, featuring interviews with many top players of the national team who swore about how this film urged them towards the game.

KKHH is filled with classic moments. Kajol playing in a sari. Shah Rukh Khan's weird dribble and obvious dirty fouls. The awkward sexual tension between the two players at a kids' summer camp. The film used basketball as the 'cool' and 'western' thing that Indians in KKHH's fantasy-land aspired to. The film of course became one of the highest-grossing Bollywood releases in history and won tonnes of Filmfare awards. Khan and Kajol were in the primes of their careers, a get-together of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen earlier in the 90s. They play basketball as high-schoolers and then again as reunited adults. Cue song. Cue romance. Cue Salman Khan in a cameo making a Jordan reference. This movie had everything.

Koi Mil Gaya (2003)

The Hrithik Roshan film is primarily a rip-off of ET and Forrest Gump, but for its basketball sequence midway, it took a little off of Space Jam, too. Roshan and his friends (all children) have made friends with a friendly alien creature called 'Jadoo' who can help them do things of supernatural athletic ability. At one point in the film, Roshan's team - the Paandavs - play against a mean-looking bunch called the 'Kasauli Tigers'.

From the sidelines, Jadoo waves his magic on the Paandavs and Roshan, helping the movie star dribble like Allen Iverson and dunk like Zion Williamson in a video-game cheat mode. The Tigers actually go on a 49-0 run at one point, and Jadoo needs the sun to instill his influence on the game. When the sun does show, the game turns, and Roshan slam dunks his way (with a very high usage rate, I might add) to a huge comeback. In the incredible game-deciding sequence, Jadoo-powered Roshan intercepts a shot, jumps, does three body flips in mid air to land his feet on top of the oppositions rim, and then drop the winner. Wow.

Dhoom 2 (2006)

Oh, you thought we were done with Roshan pretending to be a basketball savant? Let me take you a few years forward to Dhoom 2, the successful sequel to the international spy/sexy/action thriller. Like Khan and Kajol in KKHH, here are a couple of more actors in their prime: Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. It's raining. It's night. There's a lot of leather. And Roshan drops the immortal words that are now the opening sequence of our Hoopdarshan podcast: "Yeh International game hai - Deemag is khela jata hai, gussey sey nahi" (This is an international game, played by the mind, not with anger).

He was talking about their sexy one-on-one game, of course, but this is Bollywood, so he was also talking about their international spy game. We get to see more of Roshan's questionable basketball skills. He travels a lot. He throws the ball into the basket instead of shooting it properly. Bachchan strips down to a tight mini-skirt. Roshan and Bachchan come awfully close to each other and drop flirtatious trash talk. I'm sorry, but Cricket could never be this romantic.

Ajinkya (2012)

I haven't yet seen an Indian film that uses basketball as a main plot-line as thoroughly as this small Marathi movie, Ajinkya. Ajinkya is about a basketball coach in Nagpur who is a relentless winner with a big ego. He wants his team to win every game by at least 25 points and has won the regional tournament for about 14 straight years. But then, some dumb things happen: 1) his wife wants to have a child, but he can't go with her to get her fertility results because of this year's tournament final; 2) he slaps his best three-point shooter for not wanting to practice and this player doesn't play for him in the final; 3) he loses the final and vows to give up basketball; 4) his wife - who can conceive now - doesn't want to conceive a child with him anymore; and 5) he leaves town alone heartbroken - without basketball and family - to work in Aurangabad.

The rest of the film is his redemption project in Aurangabad. Both the director (Tejas Deoskar) and leading man (Sandeep Kulkari) of this film have a hoops background, so even if the story itself is quite trash, the basketball emotions are realistic. The coach takes a bunch of rag-tag new players who don't know anything about the game in his new city and teaches them, and in returns, learns that having fun is more important than winning. They play the same tournament again and reach the finals. I won't spoil it any further. But conception is still involved. So is James Bond.

Vallinam (2014)

Shelf this one in 'TBD', as I've yet got a chance to watch this Tamil film and review it for its basketball moments. From early reports, I learned that the movie pitted basketball (the hero) vs. cricket (the villain). Directed by Arivazhaghan Venkatachalam, the film starred Tamil actor Nakul as the top basketball player who plays for India. Apparently, the final scene of the movie is a basketball game between the Indian team and a foreign team at an expensive set in Thiyagaraya Nagar in Chennai.

Half Girlfriend (2017)

Chetan Bhagat writes terrible books, but sometimes they make for good films. Half Girlfriend is not one of those good films. No, this one is about a romance that starts through basketball (have I heard this before?) in a fictional Delhi college between a girl from a rich, English-speaking family (Shraddha Kapoor) and a boy from a Hindi-speaking Bihari background (Arjun Kapoor). Despite their differences, they're both great basketball players and leaders of their respective women's and men's teams. Arjun coaxes Shraddha for a date through basketball, but she only wants to be his 'half' girlfriend. Which means, perhaps the equivalent of an NBA contract with a player option? They play a lot of one-one-one hoops, make a lot of NBA references, discuss their language differences, and sow the seeds of what will become deeper love later.

The NBA in India was actually heavily involved in partnering with this movie. NBA coaches worked with the two Kapoors in helping them look the part of hoopers on screen in production. References to LeBron and Durant and Curry are dropped liberally. NBA posters and insignia are seen often. The movie was even promoted around live NBA broadcasts in India in 2017. Anyways, a lot more happens after college for these two (basketball is mostly forgotten) and things get dramatic and sad and the Bill Gates Foundation is involved and the girl sings around in New York and the boy is drunk a lot. In the end, they get together, and basketball is involved again. I watched and reviewed this movie in great detail for its basketball stuff so you wouldn't have to.

Tarunyachya Lathevar (2017)

This Marathi film begins with two girls playing one-on-one in a dark indoor hall, right after one of those girls also practices her bharatnatyam skills on the same court. And we're off! This movie was directed/starred by the former president of the Maharashtra State Basketball Association (MSBA) and featured several actual Maharashtra players in action. The protagonist in the film loves basketball - as in, staring-lustfully-at-the-hoop-while-romantic-music-plays-in-the-background-for-way-too-long kinda love. There is a lot more basketball in this movie, including romance blossoming from basketball (of course), evil administrators, and of course, a big tournament. The game-scenes look organic and not choreographed, giving them a more realistic feel.

Chhichhore (2019)

One of the final films that budding young actor Sushant Singh Rajput starred in before his untimely death, Chhichhore is a college-sports comedy, a modern ode to the 1992 classic Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar. One of the earliest frames in the film is a basketball backcourt in a college campus, a foreshadowing of the sport that will play a major role in the film's eventual conclusion. The film takes place in two timelines, the present and the past. In the present, Raghav, the son of the separated couple Anirudh (Rajput) and and Maya (Shraddha Kapoor, in her second apperance in an IBMD film) attempts suicide after an academic failure. He is in critical condition, and ultimately, relies on stories and memories of his parents' college days to give him hope.

The 'past' timeline takes place in those college days of the parents. Anirudh (Ani) and motley crew of hilarious friends are the 'Losers' of Hostel-4 (H4). Ani ambitiously decides that H4 should put that reputation to rest by winning the colleges General Championship, a tournament of multiple sports that is always won by H3, the fancy and gifted arch-nemesis of H4. Through hilarious means of self-motivation, a little trickery, and some distraction, H4 get close enough to get themselves in contention for the championship - all they need are three more gold medals in chess, relay race, and basketball on the very last day. Through dramatic means, chess and track golds are secured.

That leaves basketball. H4 are led by Ani, who is supposedly a state-level player, and H3 are led by Raggie, a talented athlete and the film's smug villain. Unlike past Bollywood moments, this basketball game is actually very-well choreographed. Both teams seem to be using the motion offense, moving excellently without the ball, using picks and screens, and passing fluidly. Most of the buckets are mid-range jumpers. Layups are rare, threes are nonexistent - it's Daryl Morey's nightmare. H4 trailed by 12 at halftime, but as it is in all these basketball movies, the underdog 'good guys' made a huge comeback in the second. Eventually, it comes down to the final shot: H4 are down 2 with six seconds to go. Ani calls a timeout... and his 'radical' game-plan is - to attempt a three-pointer. Ani loses his man, catches the ball at the top of the key, and lets off a weird one-handed shot that reminds one of former India international Narender Grewal. The shot bounced all over the rim, a reminiscence of Kawhi Leonard's four-bounce Game 7 winning shot in 2019. But guess what - Ani misses!!!! It is a truly unexpected shock. The hero lost and let everyone down. But even in loss, he gains the respect of his opponent. The lesson we are left with is that it's not the result that matters - it's the effort. And it is perhaps this lesson that aids to Raghav recovering from his surgery in present day and living to provide the film a happy ending.

Chhalaang (2020)

Rising Bollywood star Rajkkumar Rao plays a slacker Haryanvi public school PT coach in the comedy Chhalaang ('Leap'). When he has time on his hand, his character Montu leads a group of right-wing goons to thrash and reprimand innocent couples hanging out together in public parks on Valentine's Day. Later, the daughter of one of these needlessly-harassed elder couples becomes Montu's co-worker - he is attracted to her and, after a little bit of traditional Bollywood persistence, she actually forgives him and considers him as a romantic partner. None of this is about basketball yet, but I wanted to set up the premise just so we are all clear on how absurd things are going so far. 

The rest of the film is about more such transformational moments of growth for Montu, and the biggest challenge comes when a well-trained rival coach is hired by the school. Montu and this other coach decide to confront their differences with an intra-school multi-sport contest in Basketball, Kabaddi, and Relay Racing. In true underdog fashion, Montu trains a bunch of underdog players in his gender-neutral lineup, and in the process, learns a little about maturity and responsibility etc. himself. A highlight here is the scene where the students perform a dribbling drill using cow-dung as obstacles instead of training cones. The basketball game is actually well choreographed and fairly entertaining for Bollywood's low standards - Montu's team loses because their best player - Pinky, a mixture of both finesse speed and bruising athleticism - is injured halfway. Nevertheless, the coach is happy that the kids gave their best and weren't completely embarrassed. Yay, sportsmanship! 

Basketball and ‘Half Girlfriend’: An unnecessarily in-depth analysis

I watched Bollywood hit ‘Half Girlfriend’ so you won’t have to

This article was first published in my column for Ekalavyas.com on May 31, 2017. Read the original piece here.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

Less than half an hour into the Mohit Suri directed film Half Girlfriend – based on popular novel by Chetan Bhagat – the two lead characters Madhav Jha (Arjun Kapoor) and Riya Somani (Shraddha Kapoor) take on the court in a semi-flirtatious one-on-one basketball game at an elite university in New Delhi. As Madhav dribbles the ball from the top of the key, threatening to create separation for a jump-shot, Riya marvels at his slow, plodding dribbles.

“Kevin Durant?” she asks.

“LeBron James,” answers Jha.

Riya commentates on the moment just like an NBA commentator would while also attempting to guard him. Swish. Madhav makes his shot. A few seconds later, he dribbles it out to the three-point line. “Steph Curry!” Riya announces. Swish. Madhav scores again, and turns around confidently before the ball goes through the basket, true to the Mr Curry’s most disrespectfully-brilliant moments on the NBA court.

Half Girlfriend is primarily a story of class and language barriers. Riya comes from a rich Delhi family, is fluent in both English and Hindi, but chooses to ignore the latter even if it makes her sound painfully pretentious. Madhav is from a respected family lineage from the small (fictional) village of Simraon in Bihar, speaks beautiful Hindi, but struggles in English.

He is attracted to her but scared to talk to her at first; on the basketball court, however, all of their barriers dissipate. Madhav and Riya both know the language of hoops. While he half-fawns over Riya and half-plays the game, his inner monologue tells us that the NBA – not the Narmada Bachao Andolan but the National Basketball Association – has been his obsession since childhood. Now, that obsession has helped him start a friendship with the girl of his dreams.

Basketball facilitating Bollywood romance? Stop me if you’ve heard a similar story before. Nearly twenty years ago, Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) and Anjali (Kajol) in one of Bollywood’s greatest romances – Kuch Kuch Hota Hai – rekindled their former friendship into romance through one of the most iconic/ridiculous scenes ever. It was an unconventional move for a culture that rarely had any mainstream basketball visibility, and yet it worked to create a classic moment.

Basketball and Bollywood have been a rare combination. Several years after Rahul and Anjali’s hoops flirtations, Hrithik Roshan played in a basketball game as ‘Rohit’ in the film Koi Mil Gaya, which turned out to be a weird mix of E.T., Space Jam, and A Beautiful Mind. A few years later, Roshan was balling (awkwardly) again in Dhoom 2, one-on-one against Aishwarya Rai in the rain, talking about basketball thinly-veiled as international espionage thinly-veiled as romance.

With a plot closely-revolving around basketball, assistance from the NBA in India, and deliberate attempts to promote the movie via its hoops connections, Half Girlfriend has joined the rare club of Indian films with basketball mentioned above.

But first, a disclaimer: I have not read the Chetan Bhagat novel that this film was based on and I don’t plan to, because Chetan Bhagat’s prose is equal to a double Achilles injury to the brain. The novel’s Wikipedia page tells me that the basketball subplot existed in Bhagat’s writing too. Otherwise, I treated the film as its own independent entity.

Here’s a brief summary of Half Girlfriend, and if you plan to watch this film and hate spoilers, shoo away. Madhav Jha joins “St. Steven’s College” (not St. Stephen’s) in New Delhi on a sports quota. He falls for Riya Somani based on both her looks and shooting ability and the two begin a friendship of one-on-one, half-court basketball games. But, even though they are both from respected families in different extremes of India, there is a clear class difference between the couple, and Riya can only be Madhav’s “Half Girlfriend” (whatever the hell that means). Madhav tries to take the relationship further physically but she resists. A couple of days later, she has a shaadi-invitation for him. Her shaadi. To an English speaking NRI guy in London. She’s 19.

Then, the film goes completely off the rails. Their paths cross again in Patna, Bihar, and Riya has by now gotten a divorce. Now, they use learning English as an excuse to flirt instead of basketball. A lot more happens. Riya finds it laughingly easy to sneak into the top of the India Gate and dreams of being a New York based live-music performer. There is a horrible-CGI appearance by Bill Gates in Bihar and drunken pub crawls in New York City. Frequent flashes of rainfall to let viewers know which moments are more dramatic than others.

But our concerns here are not with the film itself; it’s with the film’s specific basketball moments and references. While Half Girlfriend was being filmed, production information revealed that the two Kapoor leads (unrelated) were honing their basketball skills for the movie in New Delhi. The two appeared to have taken their immersion into becoming star college basketball players seriously, and worked out with NBA coaches in India in preparation for their roles. This level of involvement in the sport and with the NBA in a movie was unprecedented in Indian cinema. The hoops promotion continued up to the movie’s release and the Kapoors kept appearing on my Sony SIX TV screens while I peacefully tried to watch the Golden State Warriors sweep the Western Conference. With some serious doubts of my sanity, I decided that it would be irresponsible as an Indian basketball journalist for me not to watch this movie.

In the film, Madhav’s love-at-first-sight, or at least lust-at-first-sight, moment happens when he sees Riya on the basketball court. She’s wearing a white tank-top, hot pants, and tightly-braided hair to look as basketball-y as possible. This seems like a girls’ team tryout at Steven’s and her side is losing. She is missing shots and not paying attention on defence. When she tries to quit the game, Madhav, on the bench, decides to tell her something inspirational in his broken English about “defeating defeats” (“Har ko haraana” is a running theme). Riya returns to the game, hits an outside jumper, drives in for a behind-the-back assist, and then drives in again for a tough lay-up in three consecutive possessions. Her team wins. She glances a happy look at Madhav and he throws up two dorky thumbs back.

Minutes later, it’s his turn to take the court for the boys’ team trials. Madhav strips into his jersey (muscle-shot mandatory) and starts off by knocking the ball off the backboard for a Tracy McGrady style pass to himself and then finishing with an unbelievably fake windmill slam. Seconds later, he does it again, but this time the finish is a between-the-legs dunk. We are not shown here if he has other skills (shooting, passing, defence, court-awareness, rebounding, etc.). He can dunk like Vince Carter at the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest, so he must be good at basketball.

Eventually, basketball brings them closer together and bridges cultural gaps. Madhav sees Riya give her teammates fist-bumps in celebration, and the rest of the movie has an unnecessarily large number of awkward, slow-motion fist-bumps between the two lovers/not-lovers. They role-play moves by their favourite NBA players on court. Both of the actors move slowly and dribble carefully, but their skills are mostly passable given the rough history of Bollywood actors playing the game.

To prove how much of a true basketball fan he is, Madhav’s dorm-room at Steven’s is swagged out with all sorts of NBA memorabilia: posters, small flags, bobbleheads and mugs with logos of the Warriors and Cavaliers mostly (he’s not really loyal to a particular team/player), a surprising Patrick Ewing photograph, a Bulls’ collage featuring Jimmy Butler, and a large Steph Curry poster.

Curry’s specific skills would’ve specifically helped Madhav’s romantic intentions in the next scene. He wants to take Riya out on a movie date – turn friendship into something more – but she will only agree if he can make a half-court shot. Madhav, who happens to be a sniper from the three-point line range, is suddenly helpless. He forgets all form and simply begins to chuck the ball in wild abandon. Somehow, Riya is impressed by his failed efforts and agrees to the date anyways. For future reference, Madhav, here is a compilation of Steph Curry’s half-court shots.

Unfortunately, as their romantic problems get more serious, basketball takes a backseat. When Riya and Madhav have a fight, Madhav struggles in an inter-college game against “Rajhans” (and definitely not Ramjas University). This is the only time we actually see him in competitive action and he’s terrible. Maybe we shouldn’t judge a book by its slam-dunking abilities.

(As an aside, Arjun Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor – definitely not related – are 31 and 30 years old respectively, playing 18 to 19-year-olds in the beginning of the film. And it shows).

The movie, predictably, takes a more sombre turn after the intermission and both Madhav and Riya move on to different professions – Madhav returns to his village to help facilitate girls’ toilets in his mother’s school and Riya joins PR for Close-Up toothpaste.

Eventually, the film ends up in New York, with Madhav moping around the city in yet another addition to the never-ending genre of movies about Indians being depressed abroad. In a shocking turn of events, our basketball-loving protagonist has ended up in the ‘mecca’ of hoops and never plays basketball or acknowledges of existence of the Knicks or the Nets. One time, while he is walking around in depression (there is a lot of this), he crosses a streetball game and the ball bounces out to him. He’s too sad to take a shot and gives the ball back. Sigh.

The ending, however, offers a silver lining. Madhav and Riya are reunited and living in Simaon in Bihar. They are training young boys and girls dressed in Warriors, Cavaliers, and Thunder gear how to play basketball. The makeshift backboard in this tiny village court has a small NBA logo. Their daughter takes and makes a jump-shot. The film ends on the emotion of basketball making people in India happy.

But even this end doesn’t solve my larger qualm with the film’s use of basketball. Earlier in this movie, viewers are led to believe that Madhav and Riya are two of the best basketball players for their college teams, and thus, some of the most exciting prospects in New Delhi. Madhav was six feet tall and still putting NBA dunk contests to shame – and their decision to “mature” away from the game was a massive waste of talent. Did they not wish to play for state or national tournaments? Were they not invited for India camps?

I understand that for both of them, basketball didn’t really need to be a priority: Riya’s family is rich enough for her to not need a basketball career to make a living, and later, she is able to earn an independent and presumably high-paying job for herself. Madhav’s priorities are duty towards his village and his community, and basketball for both of them becomes only a thing of the past.

Even as the young village players are playing the game in the end, there is no real talk of it as a feasible potential career, or of how Indian basketball can change lives. Instead of having a CGI Bill Gates in the movie, the producers should have invested in inviting cameos from Indian basketball stars like the Singh Sisters, all of whom are from a small-town Varanasi (where much of the film was shot, pretending to be Patna) and made it to the national team. Sure, it is great to idolise LeBron and Curry, but what about Amjyot Singh or Amritpal Singh, who made it from small cities or villages to become international professional players?

Of course, the other issue is the viewers’ suspension-of-disbelief. Most of the basketball scenes are believable, but Madhav’s ridiculous athleticism is simply too far-fetched. The action coordinators for those scenes should’ve toned down on those McGrady/Carter dunks a little bit. There are no signs of basketball facilities in Simraon except for the court Madhav built himself. It was hard to believe how he became that good: even Satnam Singh – India’s first NBA draftee from a small Punjabi village Ballo Ke – had to be recruited and trained at the Ludhiana Basketball Academy at age 10. I’m not saying that the Madhav backstory isn’t possible; I just feel that the writers missed an opportunity in telling us that story altogether. Hey, if he’s that good, what the hell is he doing playing for Steven’s? Why isn’t he getting a call-up from India? NCAA? The D-League?

All minor issues aside, I’m glad that a movie so invested in basketball and NBA got made in India – even if the rest of the film was pretty much an airball. Beyond the basketball-as-a-vehicle-for-romance storyline in Half Girlfriend most fans won’t be seeing any more similarities between this film and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Arjun Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor – I have to report – are not captivating stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, even though their basketball skills are far more advanced.

Basketball is new to Bollywood, but guess what: every Bollywood film to incorporate basketball – Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Koi Mil Gaya, and Dhoom 2 – has been a superhit. The game is a lucky charm to Indian cinema. Half Girlfriend, despite being the film version of James Harden’s defence, has enjoyed positive box office collection since its release. Will basketball help it have an impact like its predecessors? 

The unlikeliest duo - Aamir Khan and Stephon Marbury - promoted their movies in China together

I lived in Beijing for three years and, in my time, played a lot of pick-up basketball with the locals. There was a clear language gap with the guys I played with, since they spoke limited English (and no Hindi) and my Mandarin was almost nonexistent. In the universal language of basketball, however, we managed. I will never forget the one time when I was taking part in a 3x3 game, and a Chinese teammate discovered, in his broken English, that I am from India.

"India?" he asked. "Okay, so you be Raju. I will be Rancho, and he," he pointed at our third teammate, "is Farhan."

I was confused. "What do you mean?"

"You know, like the 3 Idiots! You are from India, right?"

I laughed out loud - his first reference to India was 3 Idiots, Aamir Khan's iconic film about the struggles of college life in India (and a perfect 3x3 basketball team team). I discovered that the film had been a cult-favourite in China, too.

Well, here's an even stranger story. Earlier this week, Aamir Khan was back in China to promote his new movie, and this time, his paths crossed with one of the most iconic basketball players of our generation: Stephon Marbury.

Aamir Khan is an Indian cinema legend, who has acted, directed, or produced some of the most memorable and successful Indian films, including several of my personal favourites. Stephon Marbury is a star American basketball player, whose career made him an icon in the NBA and a celebrity in China. The point guard is one of my favourite All Time players - his Knicks' jersey is the first I ever owned!

A few days ago, this unlikely duo shared the stage to meet with distributors for their respective sports films, and in the process, completely blow my mind.

Khan was in China this week to promote his film Dangal, which he produced and played a starring role in, based on the true story of the Phogat family's success in Indian wrestling. Dangal was released in India in December. Marbury, meanwhile, starred as himself in a Chinese biographical basketball documentary about his own life, My Other Home. It was the distributors of both these sports films that brought Khan and Marbury together in Beijing to promote their respective releases in China.

Marbury reserved some heavy praise for Khan on two posts on his Instagram page:

Chilling with #bollywood LEGEND #aamirkhan As we tease the movie screen distributors with his movie and my movie. Never in my life would I have thought up until now my path would lead towards acting and being paired with a living legend in another profession. I'm deeply humbled and completely thankful for all that God has done for my family and I in this life. #starburymovement #starbury #LoveisLove

BBALL by me and Wrestling by #aamirkhan #bollywood Legend Two sport movies coming soon. The anticipation is getting closer #myotherhome

BBALL by me and Wrestling by #aamirkhan #bollywood Legend Two sport movies coming soon. The anticipation is getting closer #myotherhome

A post shared by Stephon X. Marbury (@starburymarbury) on Apr 18, 2017 at 9:16am PDT

Khan, whose films have broken box office records around the world, is also the most popular Bollywood star in China due to movies like 3 Idiots, Dhoom 3, and PK. To promote Dangal he attended events in three major Chinese cities: Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu.

Marbury, of course, is no stranger to transnational popularity. He was once considered the biggest basketball star out of New York, became an iconic NBA player for the Timberwolves, Nets, Suns, Knicks, and Celtics, before contentiously ending his NBA career. Marbury has since played in China for Shanxi, Foshan, and eventually, in Beijing, where he found career nirvana: he won three CBA titles with the Beijing Ducks, saw a statue of himself erected outside the MasterCard Center in Beijing, has stamps bearing his image in China, has starred in a musical play about himself, and been awarded a Chinese green card. His film My Other Home will be about his basketball journey in the US and China.

A few years ago, I interviewed Marbury in depth while in Beijing about finding home in China for SLAM Magazine.

Now, thanks to the magic of cinema, Bollywood and Basketball have again crossed paths in a surprising way. I'm wishing the best to both these legends in their ventures ahead. Now that Marbury has gotten some acting experience, perhaps Khan can find a place to cast him in his next blockbuster. Considering that they have the pulse of the audience in two of the world's most populous countries, I'm expecting this fictional future Star/Khan venture to break every record conceivable.

Abhishek Bachchan ready to play Satnam Singh in a biopic - if Satnam wins an NBA championship

The following statements are the truth:

- Abhishek Bachchan is an Indian actor, star of Bollywood hits like Dhoom, Dostana, Bunty Aur Babli, Guru, and Sarkar, and the son of India's most-respected actor ever, Amitabh Bachchan.

- Satnam Singh was the first Indian basketball player to be drafted into the NBA in 2015 and plays for the D-League team Texas Legends. His extraordinary story from poor Punjabi village of Ballo Ke to the NBA Draft was captured in the recent documentary One in a Billion.

- Bachchan is apparently a huge NBA fan, specifically of the Lakers, and has had interactions with the Laker great Magic Johnson. He was the first (and only) Indian to ever take part in the NBA All Star Celebrity Game in 2015, displaying his exceptionally limited basketball skills. He was also the brand ambassador of India's NBA Store and has often professed his hopes to help basketball grow in India.

- A few days ago, Satnam Singh said that, if a biopic was made of his life, Indian actors Akshay Kumar and Abhishek Bachchan would be "best suited" for the role.

- On Monday, Bachchan responded to the story on Twitter by saying that he would do the biopic - for free, too - if Satnam can win an NBA championship.

- Bachchan is 6-foot-2 and 40-year-old. Satnam is 7-foot-1 and 21-years-old. Satnam knows how to play basketball. Bachchan knows how to act.

- Satnam has yet to play an NBA game. Although he is never going to be an NBA star, there is still a possibility that the big guy gets signed on to a fringe role by an NBA team. Satnam's chances of winning an NBA championship would depend highly on a perfect situation of playing for a team that both has the space/requirement for a big guy of his skillset and the talent to beat the top contenders in the league for the title. Think DJ Mbenga from the 2009-2010 back-to-back champion Lakers' squads.

The following statements are the 'alternative facts':

- The Golden State Warriors will sign Satnam as a backup, where he immediately becomes 'The Splash Singh'. Satnam will join a roster that already includes Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala. He would be the umpteenth big man option behind Green, Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee, David West, Anderson Varejao, Kevin Looney, James McAdoo, and Damian Jones.

- In the 2017 NBA Finals - round three between the Cavaliers and the Warriors - Golden State would lose Draymond Green after another accidental kung-fu reflex moment, Zaza to the Georgian parliament, McGee after he Shaqted-a-Fool one too many times, Varejao and David West to old age, and Looney, McAdoo and Damian Jones to foul trouble. In this moment of desperation, they would call upon The Behemoth of Ballo Ke, The Punjabi Premier of the Paint, to save the day in Game 7. In seven invaluable minutes of action, Satnam would set up important screens for open jumpers for Curry, Durant, and Thompson, outrebound Tristan Thompson, deny LeBron easy access to the basket, and pick up six quick fouls to destroy Cleveland's comeback momentum.

- Warriors will win the 2017 NBA Title and Satnam Singh will get his championship ring.

- In 2020, when Abhishek Bachchan is in his mid-40s, he will requires the help of India's finest computer graphic designers to make him a foot taller and 30-years younger. He will play Satnam from age 15-25 in India's greatest sporting biopic film of all time.

- 'King Singh: The Sikh With Da Sickness' will break all the box office records, win Bachchan all the Filmfare Awards, and become India's choice for Oscars' 'Best Foreign Language film', obviously winning that award, too.

- The film's popularity will make basketball one of the most popular sports in India and earn Satnam an honorary place as 'Basketball Ambassador' in the Hall of Fame.

- Satnam will eventually co-star in a travel show alongside Stephen Curry called 'The Curry-wallahs: Basketball and Butter Chicken from Ballo Ke to the Bay Area'.

Thank you for your time.

Upcoming Bollywood film 'Half Girlfriend' will feature a lot of basketball

If you've paid attention to any of my work the last couple of weeks, you would've noticed that I called attention to the 1998 Bollywood classic Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and its influence and legacy on Indian Basketball. The super-hit film will be remembered for the awkward and flirtatious basketball romance scenes between Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. KKHH, followed by Koi Mil Gaya and Dhoom 2 have been the only mainstream Bollywood films to feature basketball in a major way. And considering their box office returns, all three discovered that basketball in Indian cinema apparently equals to big bucks.

It seems now, perhaps, that another Hindi film is finally willing to take a chance on hoops again.

Based on a book by India's highest-selling English novelist Chetan Bhagat, the film Half Girlfriend - scheduled to be released in April 2017 - is currently being shot in New Delhi. Production information has revealed that Half Girlfriend's star pair Arjun Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor have both been honing their hoop skills as basketball will be a used as a major plot device in the movie.

I haven't read Half Girlfriend, because Chetan Bhagat writes as well as James Harden plays defense, but a quick Wikipedia search of the book's plot reveals that much of the story is about a protagonist who makes it to St. Stephen's College in Delhi on the sports quota as a basketball star. Eventually, the common love of the game leads him to an on-again/off-again relationship with his love interest (his half girlfriend).

Arjun Kapoor, who plays Madhav Jha in the film, has spent the last month training on the court to make his basketball scenes more realistic (Shah Rukh, Hrithik, Kajol, and co. have so far shown how wrong basketball scenes can go in India if the actors have no clue how to play the game) and it seems to have paid some dividends. A few days ago, he tweeted a short video of his practice scenes in Delhi and announced that more 'Basketball Diaries' from the film's shooting will be coming soon. International stunt and sports director Robert Miller has been working to train both Arjun and Shraddha Kapoor to make the basketball scenes look realistic for the film. Much of the filming of the basketball scenes in Delhi have been taking place at the SRCC college court.

It's admirable to hear that the film's director Mohit Suri and the star actors are putting in a genuine effort to make the basketball scenes in Half Girlfriend more memorable. However the rest of the film turns out to be, I hope the hoop scenes can inspire another generation of ballers like KKHH inspired players 18 years ago. And if basketball's charmed effect on the Indian box office is any indication, Half Girlfriend may already have sealed its success story.

Kuch Hoops Hota Hai

The surprising legacy of a Bollywood classic on Indian Basketball

This article was first published in my column for Ekalavyas.com on June 1, 2016. Click here for the original feature.

It’s 1998, and there are only two types of basketball fans in India. Those who know everything about Michael Jordan. And those who know everything about Shah Rukh Khan.

It’s 1998. Michael Jordan, the greatest player of his time – and as history would remember it, the greatest player of all time – had just hit his ‘final’ shot to win a dramatic NBA title over the Utah Jazz in the summer (Two years later, he would return to pro basketball in a Wizards uniform). It would be title number six for MJ, and for basketball fans in India, the image of Jordan hitting the game-winning shot would leave an indelible imprint forever.

It’s 1998. Shah Rukh Khan, the biggest Bollywood star of his time – and as history would remember it, the biggest Bollywood star of all time – would star in the super-hit film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, the first introduction of basketball to a mainstream Indian audience. To Bollywood fans in India, the image of SRK awkwardly dribbling against his eternal screen love-interest Kajol would leave an indelible imprint forever.

*

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai didn’t take place in India. Sure, we’re told that the two major settings of the film – the High School and the summer camp – are Indian, but nothing about them, except the language and the occasional sari, was truly desi. Instead, the film finds itself in a parallel perfect world created by first-time director Karan Johar, a world where East and West collided, where Rani Mukerji knew her shlokas as well as she knew her rock-n-roll. Where High School looked like a scene from the Archie Comics. Where there was no serious crime or poverty or politics. Where the most pressing issues to humanity were love triangles.

Where basketball – not cricket – was India’s favourite sport.

There is an adage among hoop analysts that the ‘NBA is a copycat league’, that a winning system shapes the next generation of teams around the league. This is why big men were all the rage for the Celtics, Rockets, and Pistons in the 80s, the hunt for athletic shooting guards began following Jordan’s dominance in the 90s, and small-ball became the blueprint for teams when the Golden State Warriors perfected the model.

Success breeds imitation, and the adage is no different in Bollywood. So, as he was coming off of a role as Aditya Chopra’s assistant director in the 1995 Bollywood classic Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, 26-year-old Johar decided to adopt the formula of DDLG into his directorial debut. Also featuring the Shah Rukh and Kajol combo, DDLG became one of India’s most successful and its longest-running film. During the montage of the hit song ‘Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye’, Khan gave a brief glimpse of his on-screen basketball “skills”, as he awkwardly dribbles and dunks in the rain.

How to make the perfect Indian romantic comedy? A pairing of India’s hottest on-screen couple, Khan and Kajol? Check. Exotic foreign locations and expensive international brands? Check. An unstoppable soundtrack with cross-generational hits? Check. Love triangles? We got two of them. The ‘coolness’ of the West in a clash with Indian sanskriti? All day. More basketball? Hell yes!

The roles of the main cast of characters in KKHH seemed well-defined. A traditionally ‘hot’ girl, a ‘tomboy’ girl, and the loveable guy in the middle. Kajol, the typecast ‘tomboy’, was dressed in the early posters of the film cradling a basketball with her hat on backwards. Here – Johar seemed to be saying – is a girl who does ‘cool’ the way those in the West seem to do it.

Johar put together this recipe and created and perfect Indian blockbuster for its time. Upon its release, KKHH was the most successful Indian film of 1998 and one of the highest- Bollywood films ever. It ran in Indian cinemas for 52 consecutive weeks. Overseas, it grossed more than any other Indian film had ever had until that point. It dominated the Indian Filmfare Awards in Jordanesque fashion, winning Best Film, Best Director (Johar) Best Actor (Khan), Best Actress (Kajol), Best Supporting Actor (Salman Khan, in an important cameo), and Best Supporting Actress (Mukerji).

KKHH caught Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in the primes of their careers as they went on to remarkable fame in the Hindi film industry. Khan, in particular, developed to become the most bankable and popular Bollywood actor worldwide. After directing the hit debut, Johar made some of the most popular and lucrative films in contemporary Bollywood history, including Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Kahbi Alvida Naa Kehna, and My Name is Khan. 

The legacy of KKHH is cemented forever for Indian audiences. But beyond the romance, the comedy, the hit songs, and the fashion trends it set, KKHH also brought basketball into the mainstream Indian consciousness. The basketball scenes from the movie introduced novices to the sport, while fans and players felt validated that their niche sport had briefly become a national sensation.

*

KKHH’s used basketball as a major plot device, unlike any Bollywood film before. Anjali (Kajol) and Rahul (Khan) are best friends who bond over basketball. Johar’s hoop-romance even pre-dated the 2000 Hollywood film Love and Basketball. However, while Kajol and Khan covered the flirtatious ‘love’ part well, there wasn’t much attention paid to the duo actually learning any real ‘basketball’ skills.

Never mind that. Early in the movie, we see Anjali and Rahul play in a full-court one-on-one game in a closed gym at their school (Khan was in his early 30s while playing a High Schooler, because Bollywood said so) that soon becomes extremely testy. Rahul, who always gets dominated by his platonic friend Anjali, resorts to cheat and foul to gain advantage. Anjali clearly wins this matchup and holds both a physical and a mental advantage over Rahul. Khan’s super-high, slow, one-handed dribble would go on to haunt Allen Iverson forever.

The scene also establishes questions over gender roles, which develop as a parallel story-line through the course of the film. Anjali is accused of crying like a girl, and then complains that she doesn’t want to be called a girl anymore. She is the third wheel in the romance between Rahul and Tina (Mukerji), but later in the film, when she makes her transformation to a more traditionally ‘feminine’ woman, Rahul is both attracted to her new avatar while simultaneously missing his tomboy, basketball-loving old friend.

Divya Singh, former captain of India’s women’s team and now a junior international coach, recalls how the basketball scenes and, specifically, Anjali’s character, reminded her own youth, when she was that rebellious athlete in Varanasi’s conservative society fighting to play a ‘boy’s game’.

“I remember it clearly,” Singh told me. “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was the third movie I had ever seen. I was a junior player for Uttar Pradesh back then and all the senior players used to say that me and Trideep Rai (Varanasi-bred former India Men’s basketball captain) used to play and fight like Anjali and Rahul! Some of those fights even got really serious, and people in Varanasi used to joke that it was our story!”

“I truly loved that movie when it came out!” she added. “I could really relate to it, because I was a tomboy like Anjali. But I also used to laugh at the way Shah Rukh and Kajol played – they should’ve at least learnt how to play basketball for the movie!”

*

But it’s a scene in the second half of the movie that eventually went down in Bollywood Basketball lore. Rahul and Anjali are now ‘grown up’ and estranged. Tina, Rahul’s wife, is dead, but not before passing on a message to her daughter – also named Anjali – to help reunite Rahul with his old friend. The film shifts to the summer camp (‘Camp Sunshine’) setting, where the daughter is finally able to facilitate this reunion (I’m grossly over-simplifying here. Go watch the movie).

Except now, things are different. Anjali isn’t the tomboy anymore: she has exchanged her athletic gear for a ‘feminine’ sari and seems to have given up on her basketball past. Anjali is also now engaged to Aman (Salman Khan). The old friends find it hard to connect again. It’s awkward.

Basketball to the rescue! The daughter is aware of the friendly basketball rivalry between Rahul and Anjali from their past and, through some trickery and reintroduction of gender stereotypes (“girls can’t play basketball?”) she’s able to get Rahul and Anjali to shed their formalities and reprise their long-standing basketball rivalry at an outdoor court.

The one-on-one, full-court game, appropriately titled on YouTube as the ‘Basketball Affair’, is iconic, influential, and hilarious. Rahul keeps on his formal shirt and tie. Anjali plays barefoot in her sari (here are a couple of people taking David Stern’s Dress Code to much greater heights), which, in 2016 would’ve definitely been sponsored by Under Armor. After some flirtatious trash-talk, the game begins.

There is obviously no referee in this game, and Rahul is allowed to commit multiple violations in each possession. Anjali, at the 3:20 mark in the video, steals the ball, but must fix her sari before taking a jump-shot (#IndiaBasketball). Of course, no ‘sexy sari’ moment is complete without potentially-scandalous waist touching, and Rahul obliges, heightening the sexual and competitive tension between the two. Even though it’s a full-court game, both seem to be shooting at the same basket. Frustrated by Rahul’s sneaky improvements (and continued use of gamesmanship tactics to get unfair advantage), Anjali brings him down with a foul that would’ve made Bill Laimbeer proud. The two begin to argue the same way they used to as High Schoolers. Anjali gets flustered. The kids begin to chant that “girls can’t play basketball” (WTF?). Everyone laughs at Anjali.

Cue song. Cue romance.

*

There have been several great moments in basketball and Bollywood, and I wrote about them in greater detail for my blog six years ago. KKHH wasn’t the first Bollywood movie to incorporate basketball, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

“The basketball quotient in KKHH was a novelty at the time,” recalled Jamie Alter, Sports Editor of Times of India Digital and one of India’s premier 90s Bollywood experts. “It has not been paralleled since, with the buffoonery shown in Koi Mil Gaya and Dhoom 2’s (lame) attempt to make basketball in the rain sexy.” 

“In 1998, basketball to the mainstream Indian audience was probably limited to Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls versus Utah Jazz and some very rare ONGC v Punjab games on Doordarshan,” he added. “So KKHH went a fair way in putting basketball into at least one segment of the public’s conscience, even if it was hardly authentic. There hasn’t been anything like that replicated with such dedication - though even now, thinking of Shah Rukh and Kajol bobbling along with a basketball makes me chuckle - and no heroine has tucked in the fall of her sari so emphatically as Kajol did during the summer camp face-off.” 

In 2003, Hrithik Roshan would star in Koi Mil Gaya, which borrowed inspirations from ET, Forrest Gump, and Space Jam in its basketball sequence. Roshan and his team ­- the ‘Paandavs’ – receive special powers from an alien called ‘Jadoo’ to dominate their rivals. Please pay special attention to the 7:58 – 8:09 mark in the video, where Roshan completes pretty much the greatest move ever: he intercepts a shot, jumps, does three body flips in mid-air to land his feet on top of the oppositions rim, and then drop the game winner. Incredible.

Three years later, Roshan would be showing off his questionable basketball skills again, this time as super criminal Aryan in the film Dhoom 2. Roshan plays a one-on-one game in the rain with Aishwarya Rai, which also doubles as a metaphor for the international heist lifestyle. It’s in this scene that he drops the immortal line – which currently serves as the opener to my Hoopdarshan podcast: “Yeh international game hai Sunehri. Deemag se khela jata hai, gussey se nahi” (This is an international game, Sunehri. You have to play with your mind, not your anger).

But KKHH, indisputably, had the biggest impact. Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, captain of India’s men’s basketball team, recalled how many of his small town and village acquaintances were introduced to the game of basketball itself because of the film alone.

“This was the first time that basketball was shown in a big Indian movie,” Bhriguvanshi told me “It became a ‘cool’ thing because basketball was looked at as a fancy game, and we felt even better because there were two big stars playing our favourite sport. I had many school friends who didn’t know what I did for a living until I said that I play ‘basketball, just like that movie!’”

Divya Singh agrees about the film’s impact, too. “A lot of youngsters started playing basketball after that movie. And they started dressing like Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, too. It became a style statement.”

*

It may still be a smaller sport relative to cricket, but basketball is a lot more popular in India than it was 16 years ago. India continues to steadily improve at the international level and even pulled off a historic win over China in 2014. The NBA has made major inroads in India, opened up an office in Mumbai, and has set up grassroots programmes the country. An Indian – Satnam Singh – has even been drafted into the NBA. Suffice to say, the Indian mainstream recognizes basketball as more than that vaguely ‘western’ way of Rahul and Anjali to flirt in KKHH.

Yet, the film’s continuing legacy on Bollywood and basketball is undeniable. Amar Acharya, an Indian-American and a well-known NBA blogger and masthead for SLC Dunk, told me continued familiarity with Bollywood helped him share something with other NRIs (non-resident Indians) of his age, and with desis around the world. But the basketball angle in KKHH took it even further.

“Basketball in KKHH codified in my mind the possibility of basketball being a medium infrastructure sport for the middle and upward economic classes of my motherland,” Acharya said, “In a place of cricket, Kabaddi, and field hockey, there was something that could be a step up – a sport for the developing classes who themselves were stepping up in line with greater educational opportunities, and a better life than their parents before them.”

If basketball in KKHH can represent aspirations for a better future, there could be better days ahead. The big screen adaption of Chetan Bhagat’s Half Girlfriend will have its young lead stars Arjun Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor exploring the cocktail of basketball and Bollywood romance. Meanwhile, the real life story of Chhattisgarh’s successful women’s basketball team will be an inspiration for another future film produced by Lara Dutta.

Alter believes that KKHH remains Karan Johar’s defining movie and the one that helped define, much like its predecessor DDLJ, the landscape of modern Hindi film romances. “So did basketball play a role in shaping the images of two of Bollywood’s biggest stars, and undoubtedly the modern era’s most famous on-screen couple? Absolutely.” 

*

Even after the iconic summer camp basketball scene, the KKHH basketball love story doesn’t end before one more twist. The game rekindled the Rahul-Anjali friendship, and even laid the groundwork for future romance. But things change when Anjali’s fiancé Aman Mehra – played in a memorable cameo by the other Bollywood superstar in the film Salman Khan – makes a surprise visit to Camp Sunshine on a rainy evening.

Rahul, in his forlorn depression, does what all hoop fans do at moments of stress: he hits the court. Aman sees him practicing, and is terribly impressed by Rahul’s awkward basket followed by uncoordinated bounce ups of the ball. In a weird American accent (Aman is an NRI living in London and that was Salman Khan's “research”) he says, "Wow wow wow, amazing man, too good, just like Michael Jordan, my man, you're too good."

And with that, he brings the basketball premise of KKHH full circle, perfectly marrying Bollywood's 'Badshah' Shah Rukh with the baddest badshah to ever hit the basketball court: Michael Jordan. Everyone, including India’s most famous actor in one of the biggest films of All Time, wanted to be Like Mike.

Fast forward. Tears are shed. One wedding is replaced by another. Cue song.

*

1998 was the summer that Jordan retired, and everyone – from Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson to LeBron James and Kevin Durant – tried to fill the void. In their own way, Johar, Khan, Kajol, and everyone associated with KKHH tried to fill a void, too. Where Jordan’s Bulls dynasty ended, the Johar and Khan dynasty began, starting with KKHH and continuing through to a whole host of similarly-themed romantic comedies.

Soon enough, directors influenced or opposed to Johar’s formula found success in Bollywood. By 2016, Michael Jordan and Shah Rukh Khan became crying memes and kids wanted to grow up to be Steph Curry.

But KKHH was never forgotten, and its magic was never duplicated. And as a legion of Indian players and fans will attest, the film’s legacy continued to have an unexpected, memorable impact on Indian basketball.

Sacramento Kings pull out the stops for India - and stop Kobe - on Bollywood Night 2016

अपने पैरों पे खड़॓ होना मुंबई से सेक्रामेन्तो तक.

The players rocking the #DesiKings Tees making entrance to the field! @nbaindia Courtesy: @luxme06 @blacksheep217 #DMC #McBen #RudyGay #KingsForIndia #KingsBollywoodNight #INDtoSAC #instaparty

A photo posted by Ekalavyas (@ekalavyas) on Jan 7, 2016 at 9:15pm PST

(Get on your feet, from Mumbai to Sacramento).

And with that energizing message, the Sacramento Kings launched their ode to the Indian community in the USA and back in India - their third annual Bollywood Night - during their game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, January 7 2016 at the Sleep Train Arena. Led by Vivek Ranadive, the first Indian-born majority-owner of an NBA team, the Kings made this year's Bollywood Night bigger than ever before. As a special bonus, they won a thrilling game, too, holding off former rival Kobe Bryant in his last professional game in Sacramento.

Ranadive, tech billionaire, bought the franchise in the summer of 2013 and has since taken several efforts to further the relationship between the Kings and India, between Sacramento and his birthplace Mumbai. This year was the third consecutive season that the Kings hosted a Bollywood themed night, after its previous two editions in front of sell-out crowds. The night included India-inspired fabrics and decor, cuisine, Bollywood-themed fan giveaways for those in attendance, and performances from leading Indian-American entertainers and celebrities.

Tapping into the global appeal of Bollywood on the décor and merchandising front, the night witnessed colourful fabric sheets hung from the catwalks over the bowl, rally towels on seats for all fans, Indian cuisine, Bollywood scarves and t-shirts in the team store, mehendi for fans, and warm-up shirts for the Kings’ players.

The first Miss America of Indian-descent – Nina Davuluri – joined the Sacramento Kings Dancers for a special Bollywood-themed dance routine. Davuluri was interviewed by Kings.com about Bollywood Night before tip-off. The Kings Dancers also dressed up in Indian garb on the night, as was Slamson the Lion, the Kings' official mascot. The starting line-ups for the Kings and the Lakers were introduced by a special guest announcer in Hindi. The Kings also showed a special introduction video before tip off - from Mumbai to Sacramento.



Ranadive's daughter, the aspiring pop-star Anjali World, performed at halftime, along with rapper 6speed. Other events included Punjabi sword fighting and dance performances by the California-based Ankhiley Gabroo dance group. Sacramento native and artist Pam Shankar, of Indo-Fijian descent, sang the pre-game national anthem.

The game itself was a perfect Bollywood movie plot for the hometown team. The first half was lighthearted and jovial, with the home-team taking a 27 point lead behind an incredible performance by their hero DeMarcus Cousins (29 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists) overcoming a strong performance by their arch-nemesis Kobe Bryant (28 points). But no Bollywood film is complete without conflict, and the Lakers made a heroically cinematic comeback in the fourth quarter to take the lead behind strong performances by guards D'Angelo Russell (27) and Jordan Clarkson. Eventually, the Kings were able to withstand the blow and give the home fans a happy ending with a 118-115 win.

After years of memorable playoff battles between the Lakers and the Kings in the early 2000s, this was Bryant's final game in Sacramento. The home crowd got a victory, but as the credits rolled in the end of the Bollywood bonanza, Bryant got a loud ovation from their rival fans. Bollywood Night was over, the respected villain lost, and the heroes notched up another win to get closer to an unlikely playoff spot!

New Zealand basketball player Casey Frank will be in Bollywood film Mohenjo Daro

Students of ancient Indian history are familiar with the archaeological ruins of Mohenjo-daro, which are an ancient archaeological site of one of the largest cities of the Indus Valley civilization, founded over four and a half thousand years ago in 26th century BC. It was one of the world's earlier urban human settlements, and the region now lies in Sindh, Pakistan. Now, about four millennia after the end of the Indus Valley civilization, Bollywood has decided to take its crack at recreating the lifestyle (and the drama, action, romance, and comedy, too, of course) of our forefathers. Set to be produced by Disney India, the film Mohenjo Daro - directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and starring Hrithik Roshan - is set to be released sometime next year

IMDB summarizes the film as "A period adventure and love story set during the Indus Valley Civilization". Every adventure and love story needs a hero (Roshan), a heroine (Pooja Hegde), and a supporting cast (Kabir Bedi, Arunoday Singh, Kishori Shahane). But the adventure needs a good villain, too, and that's how - somehow - the director Gowariker stumbled upon a 6-foot-8 professional and international basketball player from New Zealand.

Meet Casey Frank, a 37-year-old American-born New Zealander who has played professional basketball in New Zealand and Australia for the past 15 years and been a regular fixture for the 'Tall Blacks', New Zealand's national squad. In an interview with Stuff recently, Frank spoke about getting an opportunity to play the 'big bad' in Gowariker's period drama. He spent around six weeks in India shooting the film with the crew, the principal photography of which was done in Bhuj, Gujarat.

Frank grew up in America, going to college in Northern Arizona, and declaring for the 1999 NBA draft where he was undrafted. He moved to his paternal home country to play professionally and was naturalized by New Zealand's national team as well. Frank has played in two FIBA World Championships in Japan and Turkey, and last year's FIBA World Cup in Spain. He was part of New Zealand's silver-medal team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. He's a four-time New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL) champion and will return to play for the Super City Rangers this year.

So, while you're enjoying a romantic recreation of ancient history and being blasted by the inevitable Hrithik Roshan song-and-dance routine, keep your eye for the 6-foot-8 bearded kiwi in Mohenjo Daro as well. I'm not sure if they had basketball courts at Indus Valley, but since this is bound to be a creative twist at history, hopefully Frank gets a chance to play some early-civilization hoops too. If you've been a closer follower of his blog, you'll know that Roshan has, um, 'mastered' the art of Bollywood and Basketball in the past.