The story is of a boxer Shravan Singh (Vineet Kumar). The movie is set in the district of Barilley in the state of UP.
The movie largely talks of the reasons for our failure as a country to produce good sportsperson. It starts with little or no motivation from parents. Parents who want the kids to give up their dreams and settle for some job that would provide for a square meal. It talks of the federation that gobbles up all the funds received for making homes and buying gifts for the wives. It talks of the lack of infrastructure, again the money used up by the politicians. The venue for a state level championship is taken away for a wedding in the politician family and the fights happen under a temporary sheds. It showcases the lack of respect for sportsmen and inability to earn oneself a decent livelihood. And finally of the caste systems and the hate and prejudice amongst them, the hatred for each other is palpable. Some of these issues were touched upon in the movie Mary Kom, but in a Anurag Kashyap movie it is done relentlessly.
Shravan loves boxing, unlike his other mates, who want to box either to get a government job or work as a goon with a local don or end up as a bodyguard to a politician. Shravan, a thakur, falls out with one of his brahmin coaches, Bhagwan Das (Jimmy Shergill), the irony of that name hits you all the while in the movie, and finds it impossible to get a berth to box for his district. It gets further complicated when Shravan falls in love with Bhagwan’s niece Sunaina (Zoya Hussain). Eventually Shravan finds support from a low caste coach, Sanjay Kumar (Ravi Kishan) who makes him win the state championship and which gets Shravan a temporary job in the railways. But the hatred of Bhagwan Das is not over yet, he cannot fathom that a low caste coach with a one of his runaway prodigy has made it big in the state; ans his brother would marry his daughter with a lower caste boy. Now Bhagwan Das starts to plot his revenge and Shravan Singh takes every blow on his chin and gives it back with equal fervor. Will not delve much into the story for fear of giving away too much.
Jimmy Shergill is excellent. He does such anti hero characters very well. Ravi Kishan in a very restrained but a very powerful performance. Vineet Kumar is too good. His helplessness with the system and his yearning for his wife is so well portrayed. And oh! he has worked so hard on his physique. And finally Zoya Hussain, what an awesome debut. She plays a mute girl but is the feistiest of the lot. The muteness is symbolic of the lack of voice that women have in our society but she absolutely refuses to accept her muteness as a disability, and raises her voice against every unjust act. Her performance and her expressions are haunting. And she is so pretty. Watch out people a new super star is born.
Anurag Kashyap is back. He connects with the hinterlands so well. Adapting the dialect, the mannerism, the music. Its awesome. The punches keep coming time to time and before you are recover from one, there is another. Sometime in the middle of the movie you realize you’ve not moved in your chair in a long time.
And surprise surprise, it’s a family movie. Take your kids, they too should enjoy it. A little violent but the language is fine, unlike Anurag Kashyap movies.
Watch it guys- It packs a lot of punch…!!!
Very nicely written Abbas. Will definitely watch it!!