Movies and underdog stories go hand-in-hand, especially when it comes to a film featuring a plot full of competition, adversity, high odds and triumph.

For most filmmakers who rely upon sport to serve as a vehicle to delver such strong themes, it is so much easier to rely upon a skilled game most people understand and know of, as it makes it that much easier to root for an (ideally) already likable protagonist.

Then there are those occasional films that depart from the norm in randomly taking a sport or athletic-themed event to tell its underdog story. For Hollywood, films such as Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story or Karate Kid come to mind, with filmmakers drifting away from the more popular sports like basketball, baseball, football or hockey.

Halfway around the world in Bollywood, film director Chandan Arora decided against staying the course in his latest film, choosing to visually share his fictional tale of the triumph of the human spirit over insurmountable odds, not through cricket or field hockey but via carom.

That is right – carom, the rudimentarily played game often considered the junior version of pool, substituting long six-foot sticks with not-quite-six-inch fingers.

Bollywood, meet your Dodgeball — with a criminal gangster twist, of course.

It is with carom that Arora introduces his audiences to Striker, a story based upon real-life accounts of an underdog overcoming the toughest of obstacles and adversities to achieve a glorious triumph.

With R. Siddarth Narayan playing his first lead in a Bollywood film, Striker may turn out to be one of the most memorable sports films in recent memory, keeping pace with the qualitative productions involving the “sexier” games of cricket (Lagaan) and field hockey (Chak De! India).

In Striker, Siddarth plays Surya, a carom champ who is struggling to live an honest, do-gooder life despite residing in the Mumbai ghetto during the mid-1980s.

Unable to go to school due to financial and health reasons, Surya takes solace in carom. Hoping to win enough money through carom tournaments to eventually buy his way out of the Mumbai ghetto and into the money-lined streets of Dubai, Surya’s life takes a turn for the worst when he is taken for a ride by scam artists posing as an overseas employment agency.

With no money, Surya is reintroduced to carom through an underworld boss (Aditya Pancholi) and childhood friend (Ankur Vikal). However, things continue to go awry in this arena as well, and Surya realizes the only way to save himself — and others even more powerless than him – is to take on the criminal gangster (Pancholi) on his own turf, despite the odds against him.

All Surya has to rely upon for potential success is his patience and coolness, though his journey is not without serious obstacles along the way. The only question is whether Surya has what it takes to take on the big bad underworld all by himself, without succumbing to vices or failure along the way.

It is this very struggle that makes Striker one of the most substantive films to ever come out of Bollywood. While many Hindi films have a knack for preaching, Striker does not tell audiences how to live their respective lives.

Instead, in spending less time preaching and telling the tale of good versus evil, the film focuses more on the human spirit and how to manage one’s dreams despite all obstacles and odds.

By adding the layer of novelty and uniqueness with a story told through carom, Striker is actually quite the underdog story that is as well-told as Lagaan or Chak De! India, even if the patriotic themes of both predecessors are absent from the Arora production.

Siddharth is more than believable as the film’s protagonist, doing a stellar job in his first leading role in a Bollywood production. He fits the underdog role quite well; his journey from the throws of poverty to the verge of victory is well-developed.

Playing the ruthless gangster is Pancholi, who is also memorable in playing a top-notch villain. Indeed, by film’s end, audiences will be rooting hard for Surya to have his way against the crime lord.

Meanwhile, Vikal is above-average in playing the childhood friend and adult ally of Surya.

Added to the cast is Anupam Kher, who is his usual solid self as a good cop; Padmapriya, who is decent in her supporting role as a restaurant and bar owner; and Nicolette Bird.

Overall, the plot is believable, the climax is solid, and despite a few scenes that are either dragged out or overly dramatic, Striker is a well-put movie.

The film releases in theaters around the world today (February 5th) and is also the first movie to be simultaneously be released on YouTube; the film also struck a deal to be viewed on an iPhone.