cage fighters, boxers, wrestlers- Ranbir, Akki, Sid, amir, salman bhai

It's a B-Town knockout! Cage fighting and boxing take centre stage in a new wave of films

By PRIYANKA SRIVASTAVA

PUBLISHED: 22:41 GMT, 11 March 2015 | UPDATED: 22:41 GMT, 11 March 201

Bollywood's fetish for sports-based themes has been on the rise in recent times.

Cinema buffs have a reason to rejoice as several big stars are ready to explore themes based on exhilarating sports such as cage fighting and wrestling in upcoming films.

In a bid to offer an adrenaline rush, film-makers are drifting towards sports that haven't been explored in mainstream films.

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Akshay Kumar and newcomer Sidharth Malhotra are set to explore a script revolving around cage fighting in the upcoming film Brothers

The first look of Ranbir Kapoor as a bruised cage fighter in Anurag Kashyap's Bombay Velvet has got his fans curious. The actor plays Johny Balraj, a boxer-cum-cage fighter, in the film based on Gyan Prakash's book Mumbai Fables.

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Ranbir Kapoor pictured as a bruised cage fighter in Anurag Kashyap's Bombay Velvet

Akshay Kumar and newcomer Sidharth Malhotra are set to explore a script revolving around cage fighting in the upcoming film Brothers. Directed by Karan Malhotra, the film is an official remake of 2011 Hollywood hit Warrior.

The desi version comes with a tag line Blood Against Blood', suggesting the two brothers to be pitted against each other in the climax.

Cage fighting, a form of mixed martial art taking place in an enclosed arena, was first tried in Bollywood by Amitabh Bachchan in Manmohan Desai's Naseeb.

Moreover, a sequence in Race 2 featured John Abraham showing off his beefed up avatar while trying out a few punches inside a cage.

After Priyanka Chopra portrayed the life of an Olympian boxer in the 2014 biopic Mary Kom, it is Aamir Khan's turn to get into the skin of a wrestler in his upcoming film Dangal. Directed by Nitesh Tiwari, Dangal is loosely based on the life of wrestler Mahavir Phogat.

Aamir dons a salt and pepper look in the film and has been on a special regime to play a retired wrestler training his two daughters for wrestling championships.

Salman Khan, who has never played a sportsman on screen, might take up Yash Raj Films' next project Sultan, which is also based on the life of a boxer.