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? 

Great Moments in Bollywood & Basketball

"Yeh International game hai - Deemag is khela jata hai, gussey sey nahi"

(This is an international game, played by the mind, not with anger).

The wise words above were first spoken by Indian movie superstar Hrithik Roshan as he faced Aishwarya Rai in a 1-on-1 basketball game / flirting session in the film Dhoom 2. Now, I'm sure that the Zen Master aka Phil Jackson would've been very proud of Roshan's 'Zen' advice, but this isn't the only classic moment of Basketball in Bollywood. The Indian film industry, the largest in the world, may not have produced hoop-related classics such as He Got Game, Hoosiers, Rebound, White Men Can't Jump, Space Jam, The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh, Above The Rim, Basketball Diaries, and etc, etc, etc...

But, inspired by this article by Sportskeeda's Dibyasundar Nayak on the Top 5 Bollywood Movies on Sports (the list included cricket, hockey, football, and cycling), I decided that it was time to reveal to you some great basketball scenes from Hindi movies. Yes, there have been rumours circulating off and on for nearly a year about '4 PM on the Court', India's first basketball movie, but until this film is released, we have to make do with the limited amount of Bollywood Hoops action we have.

So, without further ado, I would like to present to you the Top 3 Great Moments of Bollywood & Basketball. I have embedded the videos, and below them, added my detailed comments. All three of the movies mentioned below were superhits, which can only lead me to conclude that Basketball + Bollywood = gold.

3. Koi Mil Gaya (2003)

Dhoom 2 wasn't Roshan's first stint with basketball: that moment belonged to the movie Koi Mil Gaya. Although I haven't had the heart or the motivation to sit through the entire film, I can guess that the story-line was a cross of ET, Forrest Gump, and in the basketball sequence, Space Jam. Basically: Rohit (Hrithik Roshan), a full-grown man of limited intellect, finds an alien called 'Jadoo' who helps him get achieve supernatural things. In this classic 9-minute scene, Roshan's team - the 'Paandavs' - which include him and four children, play a game of basketball for the 'Hero Cup' against the mean-looking 'Kasauli Tigers'. My running notes are below the video:



- There is something about the skin-tight vests on everybody.
- Paandavs have sneaked in the alien 'Jadoo' on to their sideline.
- Good touch in naming the team Paandavs, by the way. The Mahabharat's 5 brothers, five guys on the court.
- Jadoo has given Roshan some ill dribbling skills... Leads me to believe that Allen Iverson may have also had close encounters of the third kind.
- Oh man! Hrithik goes FAAAR above the basket for that 2-handed dunk. His WAIST is aligned with the basket there.
- I know Hrithik's the best player but dammmn he's being selfish out there. This is like Kobe in 2006. Who's Kwame?
- At 1:49 - NBA goaltend, probably legal by FIBA and thus India rules though.
- Good call by the Tigers to FINALLY quintiple team Rohit aka Hrithik.
- HAHAHAHAH 2:20 the Tigers player Freddie Weis'd the little Sardar kid... HAHAHAHAHAH
- Bruce Bowen would be a good fit with the Tigers, specially after 2:50.
- After 3 minute mark.... the kids are jumping but can't release the ball. No travelling call REF!!! What is this? A bunch of LeBrons playing here?
- That's a whole lotta dunks in this game. Now I wanna see Blake Griffin suit up for the Tigers.
- Halftime at 4:09 after a 49-0 tigers run (DAMN!).
- 4:38: AAAh so that explains the shooting slump for the Pandavs. Jadoo cant help them cheat if the sun isn't out.
- And so Roshan prayes to God for sunlight... Obviously no matter how great the Jadoo-led Pandavs become, they will never do well in the NBA indoor stadiums.
- 5:30 onwards... All I can say is DAMMMN!!!!!!
- And now, the Pandavs, who are taking Jordan's 'Air-time' concept to another level, are introducing you to the new unstoppable No-gravity offense.
- 6:56-7:05: Roshan with perhaps the greatest move EVER? He gets the ball at his own free throw line, flies and bounces to dribble once at the halfcourt (this bounce may have been repeated here to show its full awesomeness) and then dunks it in.
- Paadavs have responded with their own 42-0 run to make it 48-49
- Ref didn't call a single shooting foul all game by the way. Good clean fun, this.
- I'm sorry, I take back what i said a minute ago. 7:58 - 8:09 is the greatest move ever. Hrithik 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.
- Not fair, Paandavs cheated and had the alien with them. We need the Tigers to get some assistance. I suggest have Donague bet on them and then officiate the game.
- Cheater Paandavs won the Hero Cup.

2. Dhoom 2 (2006)

And now we arrive to this famous scene in Dhoom 2 that I mentioned earlier: Aishwarya Rai Bachan vs. Hrithik Roshan 1-on-1, a scene vying to be the greatest movie 1-on-1 battle since Ray Allen (Jesus Shuttlesworth) vs. Denzel Washington in He Got Game... Again, this is a movie that I haven't seen in its entirety, but the plot is something about international criminals, most of whom are sexy. In this scene, Rai and Roshan play against each other in the dark, in the rain (for the love of the game, I presume).



- I would also like to mention here that Aishwarya Rai (aka Sunhari) will refer to herself in third-person during the entire duration of this clip.
- Take note boys: If you dribble the basketball in slow motion in the rain, Aishwarya Rai will stare at you.
- Both in Koi Mil Gaya and in this one, Roshan has stayed surprisingly consistent to his basketball-playing gear, which has included a tight vest and trousers. This time though he has a bandana on, which means that he is badass.
- Also to further emphasize that basketball is hip, the director would like you to hear people rapping.
- 0:47: "Hey... Are you like, Checking me out?"
- 1:20: Time to play. Aish strips down to her mini-skirt. Recently, FIBA controversially discussed the idea of more revealing uniforms to sex up the women's game: Aishwarya Rai here is Exhibit A.
- Ok so it's ON!
- Roshan and Aish have their own modified version of flirtatious trash talk that Gary Payton may or may not approve of.
- 2:48: That's a carry Roshan, seriously. I'm serious about him getting as many travel calls as LeBron.
- By the way, Hrithik Roshan doesn't shoot the ball at the basket, he throws it, kind of like I did when I was 8.
- 3:06-3:12: Aish displaying her back to the basket skills.
- 3:20-3:23: Woah, what? Travelling, Aish.
- Roshan can ball but obviously need 'Jadoo' to dunk.
- 4:10-4:20: Some sick handling skills by Roshan, sort of.
- Roshan: "Yeh International game hai - Deemag is khela jata hai, gussey sey nahi". Someone teach him the Triangle Offense already, he already has the attitude!
- If you haven't gotten it yet, they aren't talking about basketball, they're talking about crime. Which is also an international game, played by the mind, not with anger, apparently.
- 5:46: Money shot!

1. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)

Aah.. We're now at the main event. This one movie single-handedly turned a whole legion of young Indians to take basketball a little more seriously. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is one of India's greatest romantic classics, and this particular scene features a basketball game between two former friends who find and love each other later in their lives. This is the only movie of the three featured here that I have seen fully. So it's Shah Rukh Khan, one of India's biggest stars ever as Rahul vs. Kajol (Anjali). When they were in college, they were best friends, and she used to kick his ass. Now, they have a frosty relationship, but maybe hoops are going to bring them closer together. Let the love and basketball resume.



- I'm getting a flashback. The two kids are actually pretending to fight to make the two main characters play ball again and thus, eventually become close again.
- The debate within the kids and the adults here is: Can girls play ball? I think we're about to find out.
- 1:13-16 Kajol challenges him - it's ON!
- 1:50: And they're FINALLY on the court. I guess it's going to be a full-court 1-on-1. Although this looks like a small court.
- Yes, before you ask, Shah Rukh is going to keep his tie on.
- And yes, Kajol is playing in a Sari and barefoot. Man, I wonder what David Stern and the NBA's strict dress code regulations have to say about this.
- 2:10-2:15: Flirtatious trash talk during basketball is obviously something us Indians are great at.
- There is obviously no one to referee in this game, and Shah Rukh is being allowed to commit multiple violations in each possession.
- 3:20: Kajol steals the ball, but then has to fix her sari before the jump-shop. #IndiaBasketball
- Are they both shooting at the same basket. Wtf?
- 3:33-3:36 Oh no he didn't. If Ginobili was Kajol in a Sari, he would've flopped at that gentle touch of the waist and won the foul right there.
- 3:58: Shah Rukh Khan has clearly learnt dribbling from the finest.
- 4:03: DAMN she tripped him! REFF!!!! That's a potentially career-ending type of foul. Andrew Bynum would be proud.
- 4:40 onwards: Hahahah... So this part is, basically, "Let's all mock the Loser Girl while she stands sadly in the middle of the court."
- Of course, it all ends up all well and good, and hoops makes them friends again.

So that's it folks. Basketball helped underdog kids and Hrithik outdo the 'bullies' with magic, helped two young criminals spark a special friendship, and brought back two friends closer together again.

Moral of the story: Basketball in Bollywood, Bringing People Together. And ensuring blockbuster movies.