From Thalapathy Vijay's Ghilli to Atharvaa's Pattathu Arasan, we take a look at the Indian films that celebrated the sport of kabaddi
Vijay played a state-level kabaddi player. in the 2004 Tamil film, Ghilli, diected by Dharani. Also starring Trisha, the film featured a National Kabaddi championship match final in the climax.
Ghilli's original, Mahesh Babu's Okkadu (2003) had the actor play a Hyderabad-based Kabbadi player, who takes part in a state-level tournament. The Telugu blockbuster was directed by Gunasekaran.
Probably the only Tamil film to be entirely based on kabaddi, Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu (2009), the debut film of director Suseenthiran, follows a rural kabaddi team, who have never won a tournament.
Nani played the the captain of the rural kabaddi team in Bheemili Kabaddi Jattu (2010), the Telugu remake of Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu. The debut directorial of Tatineni Sathya also starred Saranya Mohan.
The Hindi remake of Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu, Badlapur Boys (2014) had NIshan playing the lead. The Shailesh Verma directorial also marked the Hindi debut of Saranya Mohan, who reprised her original role
Kabaddi (2009 - Kannada ), directed by Narendra babu, won the ‘Best Film’ at the Karnataka State Film awards. The film, incidentally, had Kishore playing the coach, just like in Vennila Kabaddi Kuzhu.
Kabaddi, Once Again (2012, Punjabi) deals with the darker side of the game. It touches upon sensitive topics like human trafficking and match fixing, done under the pretext of kabaddi.
Selva Sekaran, an erstwhile assistant of Suseenthiran, has come up with a sequel to VKK, titled Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu 2. The film traces the journey of Vikranth's character after he joins the VKK team.
Although Master is not a film about the sport, the Kabaddi sequence, which is a throwback to Ghilli, is worth a mention.
A Sarkunam's film, starring Atharvaa in the lead, is another prosaic countryside story of a joint family, who hold the legacy of being the Kabaddi champions of their village for generations.
