By It is very much heartening that in a cricket-crazy country like India, where people, by and large, do not display much enthusiasm for other sports, a biopic inspired by a chess prodigy has been made. It is perhaps for the first time that a full-length feature film inspired by a chess player is being made in Indian cinema.
Dabaru is a biopic in Bengali language inspired by the chess Grandmaster, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, who achieved the distinction of becoming an International Master at 16 and a Grandmaster at the age of 19.
Born on 24th February 1983 in Kolkata, Surya Sekhar Ganguly, who has to his credit of winning 40 individual gold, 21 individual silver and 6 individual bronze medals in national and international tournaments, was honoured with the Arjuna Award by the government of India, in 2005. The decorated chess wizard, who has the distinction of being the national champion for six times and was the Asian Champion in 2009, was also awarded the Khel Samman award in 2013, by the West Bengal government. In 2015, he was awarded ‘Bangabhusan’, which is the second-highest civilian award of West Bengal.
The Bengali film, which was released on 10th May of this year, stars the Bengali cinema’s diva Rituparna Sengupta, one of the most popular and famous actresses in Bengali cinema till now(she has maintained her popularity and box office appeal for more than three decades, which is perhaps a record for heroines in Indian cinema), Chiranjit Chakraborty, Dipankar De(they are popular actors in Bengali cinema), Arghya Basu Roy and Samadarshi Sarkar(as teenage and kid chess player Souro respectively, the character inspired by Surya Sekhar Ganguly) and others.
The film, which has a length of 131 minutes, was directed by Pathikrit Basu. The film was presented by Nandita Roy and Sanjay Agarwal and produced by Windows Production.
The biopic captures the fascinating journey against odds of a young chess prodigy from north Kolkata named Souro, who through his exceptional talent and hard work and through unwavering support from his mother Karuna Devi (played brilliantly by Rituparna, as usual) and grandfather, Nabin Sarkar (played competently by Dipankar De) attains the globally esteemed title of Grandmaster.
The super cute Samadarshi Sarkar and Arghya Basu Roy essayed the different versions of Souro quite well.
The beautiful relationship between Souro and his coach Rathindra Nath Chakraborty (played by Chiranjit) is also one of the highlights of the film. The bonding between mother and son and between grandfather and grandson are among the other important elements of the film.
In the film it is being shown that as a kid Souro is being initiated to chess by his grandfather Nabin Sarkar and in real life too, the late Anil Basumallick, the grandfather of Surya Sekhar Ganguly, did teach him chess when he was just five.
The screen version Souro, who is inspired by Surya, is being shown as a child chess prodigy like Surya. In the film, Nabin and his daughter Karuna realise that Souro had great potential in chess when he trounces a seasoned chess player in their neighbourhood.
Here it deserves a mention that Surya won the Indian National U-10 and U-12 Championships in 1991, when he was just eight. During his subsequent glorious years through 64 black and white squares, Surya went on to win the coveted IM (International Master) title at Goodricke International, Kolkata 2000 and the GM (Grandmaster) title at the 35th Chess Olympiad, in Bled, in Slovenia, in 2002.
The film, which is well directed and has a tight script, presents a vivid imagery of north Kolkata. The inspiring and motivated tale has garnered critical acclaim, but unfortunately has not achieved much commercial success till now.
We need many more such well-made sports biopic on sports persons other than cricketers, in India, which can contribute towards inspiring more people among our future generations into competitive sports. This in turn can help enhance India’s medal tally at international competitions too.
