Football Fever: From Dhan Dhana Dhan to Hip Hip Hurray, let these movies kick off your adrenaline rush

Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal

Vivek Agnihotri's directorial venture, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, features John Abraham as a football fan. The movie also has a romantic undertone in addition to Arshad Warsi's appearance. In the film, Bipasha Basu plays the ladylove. Dhana Dhan is about a South Asian community in the UK that loves football and scores a goal in a thrilling finale versus the whites. The movie was modestly successful at the box office and earned average reviews.

Sikandar

The 2009 film Sikander depicts a child's passion for athletics. Sikandar (Parzan Dastur), a 14-year-old Kashmiri boy who plays football exclusively and lives with his uncle and aunt. The Piyush Jha-directorial takes a dark turn when Sikandar embarks on a new and darker journey, his innocence and love for football vanish. Instead of playing sports, he gets entangled with firearms and becomes a victim in a game played in the small Kashmiri town between terrorists, the army and politicians.

Hip Hip Hurray

Prakash Jha directed one of the best sports films in Indian cinema, Hip Hip Hurray, featuring Raj Kiran, Deepti Naval, and Shafi Inamdar in key roles. It pertains to a football team's success in winning a competition. The Gulzar-written script features a computer engineer who decides to become a sports coach. He proceeds to lead the entire team to victory, much like any effective teacher would.

Saaheb

The film by director Anil Ganguly portrays the tale of a football player who falls victim to life's tragic events after his family experiences financial hardship. The 1985 movie Saaheb starred Bollywood actors Anil Kapoor, Raakhe, and Amrita Singh in central roles.

Tu Hai Mera Sunday

Helmed by Milind Dhaimade, Tu Hai Mera Sunday is an intriguing film that tells the story of five friends who work all week and cannot find a place to play their favourite sport, football. The movie vanished without a trace even after earning positive reviews, and having a respectable star cast that included Barun Sobti, Shahana Goswami, Avinash Tiwary, Vishal Malhotra, Rasika Dugal, and Maanvi Gagroo, in leading roles.

Penalty

Helmed by Shubham Singh, Penalty focuses on Lukram Smil: a football player from Manipur in Northeast India. Lukram decides to pursue his dream of becoming a professional football player but coach Vikram Singh (Kay Kay Menon), feels that North-Eastern Indians are ‘outsiders’ and don't deserve a shot, and works against him despite his impressive football talents. The movie is worth seeing because of how Lukram makes a comeback to demonstrate a crucial point: sports doesn’t differentiate.

The Goal

The Goal, one of late actor Irrfan's first critically acclaimed films, was about a football coach who accepts a call from a football-loving friend to lead a team of young men in a club tournament. The film, which was written by Bengali author Prafulla Roy and directed by Gul Bahar Singh, also addresses the plight of underprivileged kids who, despite having an unquenchable passion for football, are unable to play the game because of their respective family histories. While the unfortunate Manu (Tapas Dhali) ends up playing for the opposing team, Irrfan is fantastic in the role of the football coach, displaying flashes of his acting talent early on in his career.