We know the success stories of many sporting heroes across many disciplines. But, it is a fact that people remain unaware about their struggles and sacrifices to achieve those glorious feats.
Only thing people remember is the achievement or failure on the field. But the hard work and struggle or the impact they made off the field, are largely forgotten.
The three-day Tiger Paw Sports Film Festival (TPSFF) starting from Tuesday will give the audience a chance to understand the hard work, dedication, passion of sporting heroes. The festival features short fiction and documentaries. These films will not just focus on the achievements but also the background stories of the stars.
Among them, one of the most prominent films is Boxing Babylon which is based on pugilist Venkatesh Devarajan, who had clinched bronze in World Championships held in Bangkok in 1994.
“I am excited about the movie. I feel good that my hard work is getting recognised. Also, I am happy that boxers are getting recognition these days, they truly deserve it. What pleases me is that boxing in India has come a long way and has a huge potential. Other countries now fear Indian boxers. This was not the case during my days,” Devarajan, who works as a Sports Officer in Bilaspur Railways, told The Pioneer on the sidelines of an event on Monday.
“These days, boxers are getting good support from various organisations. Ultimately, I am happy that people now know what boxing is all about. Earlier, they used to equate boxing with WWF. I hope the movie will inspire upcoming boxers to make it big,” he added.
Devarajan also feels that the new scoring pattern has made boxing more complicated and the removal of headguard is a wrong step.
Among other films with Indian connection to be shown during the festival is The Karims: A Sporting Dynasty. This features Aasif Karim, who captained Kenya not only in ICC Cricket World Cup but also in Davis Cup (tennis).
Karim’s family migrated to Kenya back in 1926 from Gujarat. There, they struggled to earn daily bread. “Conditions were not good so we left India. Then we landed in a different country and the conditions got worse as we had to start from scratch. My father Yusuf Karim struggled a lot. He even faced racial discrimination. He was the tennis champion for almost 25 years in Kenya. I followed his footsteps and played tennis initially and got to study in United States due to a tennis scholarship,” Karim said.
Then, cricket used to be a community sport and Kenya was getting its status back as an ICC-recognised country. I captained the team in England World Cup in 1999. Then I played in 2003, where we reached the semifinals and lost to Sourav Ganguly’s men. Now my son has also scored a century for the country. So, the movie picturises our sporting activities and our lives for around 90 years now. It shows our fight, humanity issues and how we made money,” the former left-arm spinner said.
However, Karim is at pains when it comes to the poor condition of Kenyan cricket. “The administration did nothing. There was no domestic structure in place,” Karim said. Festival starts 2PM today at Alliance Francaise in the Capital.