Through a study of three films, this essay identifies some of the problematic elements of the Bengali identification with soccer, which in turn helps to understand the uneasy relationship between soccer and Bengali cinema. In spite of the commonly affirmed Bengali passion for soccer, there are just a handful of Bengali films that deal with soccer to any reasonable extent. Yet, given certain aspects of the history of soccer and cinema in Bengal, there should have been a more potent relationship between these two pillars of 20th century Bengali culture.
