Vol. 6, Issue 2, Part C (2024)

Seminal cinematic productions such as Chak De! India (2007) and Dangal (2016) [4] exemplify the adept commercialization of the South Asian sports frenzy in the realm of Bollywood. These works not only underscore the potential profitability of narratives revolving around sporting struggles but also prove the viability of women-centric sports fiction as a tried-and-tested formula for achieving success. And this formula is neither exclusive to cinema nor limited to Bollywood. For instance, Moti Nandi’s magnum opus, Koni (1964), later adapted into a cinematic rendition in 1984, serves as another notable example. The 2018 Tamil film Kanaa (directed by Arunraja Kamaraj) proved to be a huge success, at least regionally, working on the same formula. These texts include women protagonists, who fight all odds— politics of marginalisation, gender stereotyping, social discrimination, financial hardships, linguistic barriers, etc.—in order to establish themselves as successful sporting prodigies. But after clearing all the hurdles, both the titular character from Moti Nandi's novel and Kamaraj's protagonist, Kowsi, cannot become the “poster-hero” because some extravagantly impactful men, ideally from a more privileged socio-economic position, always arrive at the right moment to save the day. In this proposed research, Koni, the book, Koni, the film and Kanaa will be studied as primary texts. In fact, the book covers and posters of the aforementioned texts and those of a few other sports narratives will also be considered. By referring to the texts and relevant theoretical as well as critical works of feminism and sports humanities, this paper will try to find out possible reasons behind this clear lack of self-agency on the part of women athletes and will look to suggest a basic framework that should be present in an actually empowering portrayal of a woman sports icon.