#NationalSportsDay: A tribute to Priyanka in 'Mary Kom' to Farhan in 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'

Bollywood and sports go hand in hand and today on #NationalSportsDay we pay a tribute to popular sports characters played by our talented Bollywood actors. Films have always been taking inspirations from popular personalities and showcasing their story through the help of celluloid to entertain the audience as well as convey the story of all the hardships and struggle. With audience to appreciating such films, filmmakers are rooting for more and more sports biopics as the trend has been well accepted by all. Therefore we look back at Bollywood's popular sports characters from Priyanka in 'Mary Kom' to Farhan in 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'.

Filmmaker Omung Kumar managed to gracefully showcase the rise of Indian Olympic boxer Mary Kom from Manipur. The ace filmmaker managed to rope in one of the best actor in the business, Priyanka Chopra to play the titular role which she played with utmost perfection, leaving the audience amazed with her portrayal of the rise of the popular boxer. The film gave us a glimpse of Mary's struggles from her initial days and how she managed to win gold on international levels.

Farhan Akhtar left no stone unturned when he stepped into the shoes of India's Flying Sikh, Milkha Singh. From a perfectly chiselled body of an athlete to getting his Punjabi diction spot on, the multi-talented actor gave one of the best performances of his career in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's film. Eventually, the film turned out to be a blockbuster and at the same time, Farhan's display of command of his character was loved by the audience.

After carving a niche for himself in Bollywood, Sushant Singh Rajput who rose to fame from television strived really hard to get Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni's nuances right on the celluloid. Neeraj Pandey's biopic on one of the best wicketkeeper-captain in International cricket, was a roller-coaster ride as the film gave the audience a glimpse of Dhoni's hardships before making it to the Indian Cricket team. Critics, as well as the audience, were all in for Sushant's stupendous performance in the film.

Tigmanshu Dhulia managed to create his own aura on the silver screen when he gave the audience the true story of an Indian army soldier, Paan Singh Tomar, who won a gold medal at the National Games. Stepping into the titular character, Irrfan Khan made sure that he did justice with his character and left a mark in the history of Bollywood biopics with his flawless performance. While the film also revealed how a gold medalist was forced by circumstances to turn into a dacoit, it won several accolades and Irrfan also managed to bag multiple awards for his splendid acting.

Punjab's multi-talented superstar Diljit Dosanjh collaborated with one of Bollywood's talented actress Taapsee Pannu to give the audience one power-packed performance in 'Soorma' which is based on the life of hockey player Sandeep Singh. Helmed by Shaad Ali, the film is all about the rise of Singh after a tragic accident which nearly ended his career. While Taapsee managed to excel in the screen time allotted to her, Diljit's stellar performance gave him a platform to establish himself in Bollywood as well.