The narrow lanes of India encompass within themselves thousands of stories. There are often talents and stories that never reach the people. But ever since the change in filmmakers’ approach towards the artwork has changed, many films have tried to pay tribute to some unsung heroes.
The class divide in the society is very evident and in many cases extends to the innocent lives of children. In his upcoming film 'Jhund', actor Amitabh Bachchan is seen is an inspirational story where he coaches a group of underprivileged children in the game football and helping them make a name for themselves. But this is not the first time such a concept has been taken up by a Bollywood movie. With fans gearing up for the film’s release, here is a list of five movies that are centred around lives of underprivileged children, who defying all odds managed to make a name for themselves.
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‘Gully Boy’
‘Gully Boy’ is a Hindi-language musical drama film directed by Zoya Akhtar and written by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti that was released in 2019. Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, and Ritesh Sidhwani produced the film under the Tiger Baby Films and Excel Entertainment banners. It stars Ranveer Singh in the lead role and Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Vijay Varma, Amruta Subhash, and Vijay Raaz in supporting roles. Inspired by the lives of Indian street rappers Divine and Naezy, the film is a coming-of-age storey about an aspiring street rapper from Mumbai's Dharavi slums.
‘Hichki’
‘Hichki’ is a 2018 Hindi comedy-drama film co-written and directed by filmmaker Siddharth P. Malhotra and produced by Aditya Chopra and Maneesh Sharma under the Yash Raj Films banner. Based on the autobiography of American motivational speaker Brad Cohen, it stars Rani Mukerji in her comeback role as Naina Mathur, an aspiring teacher who was rejected by many schools due to her Tourette syndrome until she was accepted at her alma mater, St. Notker's School. She has been assigned to teach students from a nearby slum in class 9F, which was established by the Indian government to fill a quota for the underprivileged children.
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‘Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii’
Karanjeet Saluja directorial ‘Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii’, a 2007 Hindi-language Indian fantasy sports comedy film. The main protagonists are Zain Khan and Rahul Bose. It's an unofficial remake of the film ‘Like Mike’, which came out in 2002. The title of the film is derived from Amitabh Bachchan's character in the 1982 film ‘Satte Pe Satta’. In the film, cricketer Kapil Dev makes a cameo appearance. It embarks the journey of an orphan boy who makes his way to the Indian cricket team with supposedly a magic bat that he has.
‘ABCD: Any Body Can Dance’ Movie Series
‘Any Body Can Dance’ is a two-part film series directed and choreographed by choreographer Remo D’Souza. The movies were produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur. The first part of the movie was released in 2013 while its sequel hit the theatres in 2015. Both the movies successfully depicted the struggles of a group of dancers who try to make a name of themselves. Filmmaker Prabhu Deva us seen in both the movies playing important role.
'Yeh Ballet'
Filmmaker Sooni Taraporevala wrote and directed the Netflix Original film ‘Yeh Ballet’, which was produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur. As the leads, actors Achintya Bose plays Amiruddin Shah, and Manish Chauhan plays Nishu (a character based on his own life). Actors Julian Sands, Jim Sarbh, Danish Husain, Vijay Maurya, Heeba Shah, and Kalyanee Mulay also make appearances in the film. Taraporevala's short documentary of the same name is fictionalised in the film. The movies revolves around two boys from the suburbs of Mumbai who are passionate about dance and their struggle to teach the top.
