MMA India : Fighting for a dream

Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport, widely reported as the fastest growing sport today.

Initially designed to determine the most effective fighting style in the world, MMA today has captured the imagination of combat sport afficiandos, and transformed the lives of thousands of fighters.

With the American based organization, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, currently dominating the MMA world, much attention has been lavished on the American MMA movement, but Indian MMA has its own story to tell. The film explores the scope and depth of the emerging MMA revolution in India, from its humble origins in small towns and villages across the country, to its meteoric and sudden rise as an urban phenomenon.

With money and fame being dished out, MMA has become the inheritor of India’s famed combat traditions, attracting national champions from kushti, boxing and wushu, for example.

The tensions surfacing because of this transition are explored, as are the dynamics of this social change sweeping the country’s martial traditions.

By listening to the people involved in this movement in India, speaking through this film, the viewer will be able to peel away the layers of uncertainty and vagueness that surround Indian MMA, as well as discover surprising connections to Indian popular culture, some of them going way back, like Amitabh Bacchan portraying a cage fighter in the 1981 Hindi film, Naseeb. A ride through the world of India’s brave new fighters, men and women bravely representing India on this new platform.