Hartson, 34, who played 51 times for Wales and for clubs including Arsenal, West Ham United, Coventry City, Wimbledon, Luton Town and Celtic, is facing many months of treatment.
Will Smith, who had once portrayed the irreverent Muhammad Ali with such aplomb, brings the character of Richard Williams alive. The accent, the dialect, the body-language and the ever-present chip on the shoulder, observes Deepti Patwardhan.
'I always used to say ignore the trolls and move on and focus on your fans and friends,' Sreenath Sreenivasan tells Rediff.com's Monali Sarkar. 'That was easy for me to say. But now when I say it, I really mean it.'