IANS
Sachin: A Billion Dreams is a biopic that gives a holistic view of Sachin Tendulkar's life, revered as"the God" of cricket by his fans. Structurally, the film is designed as a documentary.
While the film encapsulates the life of the master blaster right from his birth to the present, it also gives an insight into the socio-economic situation of the country, making it feel like heavy-duty stuff.
This may not be the first documentary on Tendulkar, but probably it is the only one endorsed by him. So, you have him as the narrator sharing his personal moments along with his views and fears in a sincere manner.
The film tells us of his growth as a cricketer and reveals his personal life, bringing to light his close-knit family and friends. How he got the name Sachin, how he met his wife, got married and how he spends his free moments, are a few of the interesting nuggets shared. So apart from Sachin you actually get to see his family and friends.
The script by director James Erskine and Sivakumar Ananth seamlessly encapsulates Sachin's life with archived footages from his personal videos, cricket matches, news clips and clips from known personalities like ex-cricketers Sunil Gavaskar, Vivian Richards, Wasim Akram, Ravi Shastri, Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Virendra Sehwag, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Harbhajan Singh, sports journalist Gideon Haigh, commentator Harsha Bhogle, cricket historian Boria Majumdar, singing legend Lata Mangeshkar and megastar Amitabh Bachchan. Together, they give a fair insight into the life of Sachin.
Visually, the film with the right blend of footages, is engaging and the narrative is definitive.
The euphoria of the brilliantly played matches is once again relived, giving the plot its jagged edges.
With a run-time of two hours and 20 minutes, the first half of the film is interesting and fast paced. It dramatically ends on a sombre poetic note. The second half moves at a slower pace and fatigue sets in, nevertheless the film is inspirational.
With editor Avdhesh Mohla's smooth transitions and effective background score by AR Rahman, this well mounted documentary will appeal to cricket fans and every Indian.