The Olympics are underway, and everyone is suddenly an armchair expert in javelin and the pommel horse. But the reason we watch sports is because there is no more universally human experience than watching an underdog rise up at the last minute to clinch a win. Here’s your weekend watchlist to get you in that fist-pumping mode. 

Friday Evening

Movie - Dangal (2016) on Netflix

Start your sporting journey with the story of real-life wrestlers Geeta Phogat, Babita Kumari, and their father Mahavir Singh Phogat. Aamir Khan’s usual dedication is on display as he physically transforms into Phogat, and the movie is an entertaining feel-good story of a young girl trying to fulfill her fathers dreams. Watch to find out the answer to “Mhari chhoriyan chhoron se kum hain ke?” (Are my daughters any less than boys).

Duration - 161 minutes

Friday Night and Saturday Morning

Documentary - The Last Dance (2020) on Netflix

Follow it up with the untold story of Michael Jordan and his final season with the Chicago Bulls. Featuring over 100 interviews with basketball’s biggest names and unseen footage, the award-winning documentary is Jordan at his most vulnerable. You don’t need to be a basketball fan to appreciate the story of the original GOAT.

Duration - 508 minutes

Saturday Afternoon

Movie - Rocky (1976) on Prime Video

Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky about a small-time club fighter who gets an unlikely shot at the world boxing championship title is the quintessential underdog story. Rocky’s charm comes from the fact that he’s not trying to win, he just wants to go the distance and prove to himself that he can still be standing when the final bell rings.

Duration - 120 minutes

Saturday Night

Movie - Creed (2015) on Prime Video

The Rocky franchise had become irrelevant until Ryan Coogler breathed new life into it with Creed, the story of Donnie, Apollo Creed’s son. Stallone took a backseat and became a shepherd in his own story, almost winning an Oscar in the process. And Hollywood found a new young star in Michael B. Jordan.

Duration - 133 minutes

Sunday Morning

Movie - Shaolin Soccer (2001) on MXPlayer

Before 2005’s global hit Kung Fu Hustle, Stephen Chow made Shaolin Soccer, a sports comedy film. Chow plays “Golden Leg” Fung, a Shaolin monk who reunites with his Shaolin brothers to use their martial arts skills to win a football tournament. The movie is a cartoon brought to life, and Chow has an amazing gift for using comedy to tell a heartwarming story of fraternity.

Duration - 113 minutes

Sunday Afternoon

Movie - Chak De! India (2007) on Prime Video

Writer Jaideep Sahni said he was inspired to write the story after reading about a win by the women’s hockey team in a tiny article on the back page of a newspaper, while the men’s cricket team win took over the front page and more. Watch one of Shah Rukh Khan’s finest performances as Kabir Khan, the disgraced hockey player who gets a shot at redemption as the coach of the national women’s hockey team.

Duration - 148 minutes

Sunday Night

Movie - A League Of Their Own (2022) on Prime Video

This TV adaptation of the 1992 movie follows the Rockford Peaches, a women’s baseball team in 1943. The show is a sharp but entertaining look at the sexism and prejudice faced by the Peaches, and the women in that era. At one episode a day, the eight-episode show will last until next Sunday, perfectly timed to the end of the Olympics!

Duration - 431 minutes

If you’re still looking for someone to root for, try GLOW on Netflix, about the Glamorous Ladies of Wrestling, Friday Night Lights on Prime Video about a high school football team in Texas, or there’s always Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ about an American football coach who finds himself coaching a soccer team in London.

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