Finally here's a movie that can be called detached from the Mumbai glitz, Bollywood masala and the ritzy glamour. This movie, according to me, reminds you of the NSD and the Delhi school of drama, the same genre of acting and direction that gave us the likes of Fauji and Nukkad.
Even as early as 10 minutes from the time the movie starts, you are gripped. As soon as you see the girls arriving one by one for the national games registrations, you are falling hook, line and sinker.
There is just about everything in here for everybody (except for ones who want item numbers and nonsense masala). There is fair amount of patriotism thrown in, there is oodles of viva feminism thrown in, there is so much of the fun that we thought we would never see past our school days and of course there is ample hockey thrown in :)
The screenplay and editing is simply mindblowing, despite that fact that the script is so predictable. From the time you see the promos for the first time, you know what the movie is going to be about. A failed player, india as the underdog in the arena of world sports, an uncommon team of female players and of course the fact that in the end, you know who will emerge victorious.
But despite all the preconceived notions, the screenplay grips you from the beginning and you are enjoying yourself completely. I had taken my mum for the movie and believe me, I don't remember the last time I saw her enjoying a movie like this! My own mum was enjoying not just the movie but the game as portrayed on screen. For every damn goal, she was actually clapping :)))
Now, if thats not good cinema, I don't know what is.
Something that can make a movie bluff like me appreciate the sheer brilliance of the director, an anti-shah rukh hubby actually smiling thru out the movie and my 50 year old mum enjoy herself shamelessly !!
Its a movie simply about grit, determination and self belief. Its a movie about woman power (Yea, more power to us!) and team spirit. Its a movie that transcends languages barriers and class systems in our society.
So, as you can see, I completely enjoyed watching this one and to me this is definitely one of the best movies of the year.
The screenplay is so impressive, you have to give the credit to the writer Jaideep Sahni and the director Shimit Amin. In a movie where you have 20 odd characters, its so easy to lose your way and churn out half baked stories. There are so many multi starers which fall flat on its face because of the screenplays. But this one, with each characterization so perfect, takes the cake.
Each and every character is well though out, there is enough given for us to make out the character and not a single irrelevant, dwindling flashback (which is what usually happens!). I believe that in a story which has a lot of characters in the story, sometimes the focus is lost in telling the story of each and every person on screen. Which incidently is not really required because your story doesn't revolve around 15 odd autobiographies. But around the story in hand which is quite situational. Sometimes an applicable context maybe required to set the precedent for the incident depicted but long winding flashbacks are completely unwarranted.
There is decent amount of footage for just about everybody even the supporting cast of the movie like the female assistant for the coach and the cook :) Everybody has their 5 mins of glory and thats such a sweet thing.
I didn't really think Bollywood had in it the spirit and technical expertise to weave a really decent story around field sports. We know, live and breathe cricket so that comes easy. But even those movies don't always hit the mark such as Hattrick or Say Salaam India (although I thought the latter was good). Lagaan and Iqbal were probably the only 2 decent movies we have seen so far. Any other field sport seem quite a far fetched thought. But I hope this movie works for the sake of Field Hockey more than anything else. Its a movie that has really done justice to portraying a seemingly unknown and definitely less appreciated game like Hockey. On top of that put together a women's team to bring glory to the game and you have a winner :)
I really hope, this movie inspires more and more people to take interest in something apart from Cricket as far as sports go. I hope games and teams in India get more sponsorships and encouragement even if its because of a bollywood movie. If RDB can purportedly bring justice to the Jesicca Lal case, then why not this be the sweet beginning for Hockey as the re-instated national game.
