Docu-drama on Indian Women Cricketers

Indian women cricketers Anjum Chopra (left) and Jhulan Goswami (right) pose for shutterbugs with filmmaker Sunil Yash Kalra (centre) at the launch of the director's novel docu-drama on eves' cricket -- Poor Cousins Of Million Dollar Babies -- at a city hotel in Kolkata. The 25-minute film, which features national teammates Anjum, Jhulan, Rumeli Dhar and Amita Sharma, is based on the minds and lives of women cricketers in India.

After making a mark for themselves on the field, Indian women cricketers Anjum Chopra, Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj have now ventured into uncharted territory -- coming together for a documentary film based on their life both on and off the field. The 25-minute-long documentary -- Poor Cousins Of Million Dollar Babies -- has been directed by an upcoming sports film-maker Sunil Yash Kalra and takes the viewers through the moments of trials and tribulations, joy and success of these cricketers as they etch there names in the cornerstones of the male dominated world of cricket.

The docu-drama highlights their struggle, hard work and determination to achieve the milestones despite receiving far less attention from cricketing bosses, sponsors and media coverage. The film which took almost five years to complete peeps into the life of women players and revolves around strong bonding that these cricketers share among them.

"This is my tribute to Indian women cricketers. I just wanted to show an aspect of the cricketers which has never been shown before," said Kalra, who had made programmes on women cricketers on Doordarshan.

Terming the entire narrative as an eye-opening experience, Kalra said the documentary shows that disparity does not play hindrance for these girls and that they play for the country and not for money. "The documentary shows that these girls, despite the omnipresent disparity in the team, play for pride not for plight," Kalra told PTI. "We got support from different sporting authorities for the film.

I had never imagined that this sort of welcome would be given to the documentary," said the director. The players themselves were very confident about the film since its beginning and Anjum Chopra, former Indian captain, herself termed the narrative as an "encouraging step".

"Not everyone makes a film on this topic. Very few people do something like this.

This is an encouraging step for creating awareness about the Indian women''s team," said Chopra. The preview of the film was screened for a select audience in Kolkata last year and the response was "overwhelming".

"It feels good to see people taking interest in this type of documentary," said Chopra.

The documentary will be showcased at the Shamiana Festival in Mumbai and then later at the Canadian film festival. One can only hope that its impact will be a bit more long lasting than Chak de and will actually benefit the game and not just the box office.

Five Women Cricketers who were instrumental in making this docudrama:

Anjum Chopra: An Arjuna Award recipient, is India's former captain. She is now a commentator and works for Air India.

Jhulan Goswami: The current national captain.

Amita Sharma: The current national vice-captain.

Rumeli Dhar

Priyanka Roy: The only cricketer to take a five wicket haul in ICC T20 World Cup 2009 (She reached this milestone before Umar Gul got it in the men's tournament)