10 Reasons Why Yuvraj Singh’s Life Journey Deserves A Biopic

M.S. Dhoni – The Untold Story has taken the box office by storm and much to the delight of viewers, the film has been able to evoke enough emotions. With a performance just as good as any by Sushant Singh Rajput, the Neeraj Pandey directorial has let us in into a cricketer’s life and has taken us through a journey that we normally wouldn’t know. However, that tiny bit sequence with Yuvraj Singh in the fray prompted a lot of thoughts within us and we wonder why doesn’t he deserve a biopic under his name?

While Dhoni’s life journey narrates an inspiring story with a message that conviction and persistence can take us to unachievable heights, Yuvraj Singh’s life (whatever we know) is filled with more drama than you can imagine. The kind of life the Punjab lad has been through is something that can make for a biopic possibly much better than Dhoni’s.

(Also Read: All You Need To Know About Herry Tangiri, The Actor Playing Yuvraj Singh in Dhoni Biopic)

Here are 10 aspects of his life that we believe will make for a riveting sports biopic:

First Love With Skating/Tennis

As a child while growing up, Yuvraj was totally in love with Tennis and Roller Skating. From what we know he was absolutely fantastic at both and he had no interest in cricket. He even went on to win the National Under 14 Skating championship, only to get his medal thrown away by his father who just wanted him to be a cricketer. So that’s the first sacrifice the kid had to make to make his father happy!

Troubled Childhood

As an innocent child who probably had some dreams other than cricket, he was haunted to the core of his life to pursue the game of bat and ball and do what his father wanted him to do. In a talk show episode with Anupam Kher, the cricketer himself revealed that what his father did to him as a child was something that no dad would make his son do. We all know the kind of temper his father Yograj Singh is blessed with and we can perhaps imagine the tough childhood he had. How very perfect for an interesting build up to the movie?

Parents Divorcing

His parents Yograg Singh and Shabnam Singh separated while this left hander lad was still a teenager. Even before he could put his plans into action and think about the future, his parents divorced. Now how tough would it have been for the boy to cope up with that and still focus on his game back then? While his father’s efforts made him pick cricket and find solace eventually, he still chose to live with his mother in the hopes of being able enough to earn her a comfortable life. Straight out of a Hindi movie, right?

Glorious Start to the Career

While Dhoni’s journey told how he finally made it to the National side, Yuvraj’s struggle isn’t as darn as that. His stylish stroke play, bowling abilities and breathtaking fielding made him enter into the team before he could turn 20. Coming from an under 19 World Cup win, Yuvraj played his first match in Champions Trophy in 2000. How would you define a performance that wins you a match against world champion Australia? The first time Yuvraj came out to bat for India, he almost hit a century and took some fabulous catches.

Sidelined In The Team

Despite having spent enough time in the team and performing fairly well for a long period of time, Dhoni was picked as team’s captain ahead of him for the inaugural World T20 in 2007. We don’t really know what he felt after that, but this is something that can make an edgy plot twist in the movie. Because, what happened next was something nobody had expected.

(Also see: 28 Facts That You Must Know About The Cricketing Sensation M.S. Dhoni)

The Day That Defined Yuvraj Singh

While playing against England in a must win game in the T20 World Cup, Yuvraj had an altercation with Andrew Flintoff. What happened next is history! Yuvraj hit all deliveries of the next over for sixes and Stuart Broad had to face the biggest humiliation of his life. The all-rounder made it clear what he could do if anybody messed with him.

Love Life Controversies

Given the heartthrob that he was, Yuvraj was linked with a lot of Bollywood beauties over his career. While he had a long relationship with actress Kim Sharma, he was also rumored to have been involved with Deepika Padukone. Owing to his handsome looks and excellent appeal, Yuvraj’s love affair could be a considerate segment of the story. Some rumours even stated that he and Preity Zinta (his team owner) were quite close in the days of IPL. We know who he finally settled with and Hazel  Keech has all the reasons to be happy about it.

(Also see: 31 Times Bollywood Found Love In The Sports Arena)

Hero of 2011 World Cup (Finding that he has Cancer)

This is where the film goes full throttle dramatic and the filmmaker wouldn’t need to do much to invoke emotions. When the man was striving hard to make this dream a reality and win a World Cup for his idol Sachin Tendulkar, even he didn’t know he was battling cancer. Yuvraj’s all-round skills won us the World Cup and he played the entire tournament coughing and vomiting blood. Can you picture the drama a filmmaker can put by shuffling across flashbacks and finally taking us to the moment when he picked that Man of the Tournament trophy!

Battle With Cancer (Crushing of a Million Dreams)

After earning India its most aspired cricketing dream, Yuvraj had to leave the game and seek treatment for he had a golf ball size cancerous tumor in his lung. He moved to US with his mother and got chemo therapy sessions. The 29 year old was under treatment for a long time and nobody thought that he would ever be able to serve Indian cricket again. Along with his own set of dreams that he had for himself, a million hopes too crushed along as his fans shed tears with him and for him. 

The Comeback

The man who was only used to receiving trophies was then getting sympathies from people all around the world. All everybody wanted was to see Yuvraj pick the bat again and be the six machine that he was. The fighter obliged, he didn’t give up and fought his way back into the team in style. Anybody who has closely followed his life would know the comeback he made – winning India matches all over again! And this is where the film ends, a hero who rose up to enviable heights battled cancer, came back and then became a forgotten hero again. But whatever Yuvraj Singh has achieved is beyond us, beyond sports and beyond the realms of just a fighting story! The cricketer even wrote a book of his experience of battling with cancer – The Test of My Life.

Is any filmmaker/producer reading this? Grab the idea before anyone else does. Up for another one Neeraj Pandey?

(Also Read: 9 Celebrities We Would Love To See A Biopic On)