R Balki's 'Ghoomer': This legendary Olympic medalist inspired sports drama
R Balki's Ghoomer is out in the theaters on Friday and has Abhishek Bachchan essaying the role of a coach, while Saiyami Kher plays a specially-abled cricketer who loses her dominant hand in an accident. It is inspired by the life of Olympian Károly Takács, who won two Olympic golds in pistol shooting with his left hand after his right one suffered an injury.
He injured his right hand in an accident
Born in Budapest, Takács enrolled himself in the Hungarian Army at a young age and was trained in pistol shooting. He had aspirations of participating in the 1940 Summer Olympics, scheduled to be held in Tokyo, but as luck would have it, an accident involving a grenade rendered his right hand severely injured, seemingly ruling out the chances of him continuing his shooting career.
Practiced secretly and trained his left hand well
However, Takács wasn't one to let life quash his dreams, and he showcased incredible resilience in the wake of the injury. He reportedly practiced secretly and made his left hand as well-trained as his right one, and just a year later, won the Hungarian national pistol shooting championship in 1939! Meanwhile, the aforementioned Olympics got canceled due to the Second World War.
He won two medals in two consecutive Olympics
Takács finally got the chance to script history in the 1948 Summer Olympics, when he won the gold medal, defeating the then-world champion Carlos Enrique Díaz Sáenz Valiente. As if that weren't astonishing and inspiring enough, he followed it up with another gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He is also credited with winning 35 Hungarian national shooting championships.
Takács later trained another Olympian
After the completion of his shooting career, Takács became a coach and one of his protégés was Szilárd Kun, who won the silver medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Takács passed away in Budapest aged 65. International Paralympic Committee remembers his illustrious legacy as "the first athlete with a disability to reach the podium in shooting at the Olympic Games."
'Ghoomer': Know more about the film
Ghoomer marks Bachchan's return to theaters after Manmarziyaan, which was released in 2018. Shabana Azmi and Angad Bedi are also a part of the sports drama, while Balki's frequent collaborator Amitabh Bachchan will be seen in a cameo. Talking about the film, Balki had earlier said, "Ghoomer is a unique story. It's almost like inventing a new ball in cricket."
