It is only in recent past that biopics have been made on sports persons, that too on people not belonging to cricket! Just a couple of days before the movie released, I had seen at TedX video of the real Sandeep Singh which further invigorated my interest to watch the movie.
From barely being jealous of his elder brother for hockey training and his new kits, to being the king of hockey wasn\’t just a cakewalk like upwards climb to the top. He was on the verge of becoming the blue eyed boy of Indian hockey but life had other plans. The rest of the story forms a part of his struggle and his magical come back to the Indian team and leading it to greater heights.
What is absolutely inspiring to see is the determination and dedication for giving one\’s best to transform from being a star performer to being stuck to a wheelchair to be back as one of the most successful international hockey players ever. The heroics are well mentioned in the movie and hence I will not go into the details.
Diljit Dosanjh, Taapsee Pannu and Chitrangada Singh all have a flair of doing varied characters in their Bollywood career, which reflects why this movie brought them together. Diljit has the nicest of innocent and natural looking expressions that one could ever deliver. Taapsee Pannu who has time and again proven that she can perform across genre, again gives justice to her role, playing the extremely focussed and patriotic budding player. However, even after quite some research, I could not make out whether her character was of his real life wife or his alleged girlfriend. Doesn\’t matter much though! The Shakal of yesteryears aka Kulbhushan Kharbanda becomes the good boy and returns as the kind hearted chairman.
In due course, the story maintains good pace throughout with a very few number of songs which too keep the story moving. The title track is absolutely energetic! The set doesn\’t move much beyond the grass turf, the practicing ground turf and the household of the two families. The depiction of the life-changing event of our protagonist can send a real shock down the spine of people who don\’t know that this event happened for real before watching it in the movie. There is absolutely wonderful balance of comic timing, emotion and innocence as far as the dialogues are concerned…
1. She: To Vikram ka pra(brother) hai na tu?
He: Vikram Ka hi hu, Apna mat Bana lena..
2. He: Hockey Chod Ke bahut time ho gaya isliye goal nahi ho raha hai
She: jab life mein goal ho na to idhar bhi Hone Lagenge.
Shaad Ali as the writer, director and part of the screenplay continues with his adventurous array of films. The movie theme appealed to the experimental actor and first time producer Chitrangada Singh probably because of her Army and sports background. Deep within, I started comparing the field Hockey games and the preparation that goes into it with Chak De India and that is where the Shahrukh Khan starrer had an upper hand.
A lot is being said about the first day collections of Sanju and Soorma and I will not add to it. One thing is for sure… whether you have watched Sanju or not, you must watch this!! Whether you are a sports lover or not, you must watch this!!