Another Hockey movie after "Chak De - India". This time the focus is on the Indian men's team. The movie starts with the famous victory over the German team in the 1936 Olympics in front of Hitler. The key stress is the fact that it is "British India" and not "India" that wins the Gold at Berlin and had won the earlier two editions too.
Dhyan Chand has been replaced by a fictional Sartaj. Tapan Das (Akshay Kumar) is a dhoti clad Bengali "sidey" manager of the team. Independence of India is on the far horizon and he wows to win the Gold for an independent "India".
The next two Olympics are cancelled thanks to Hitler and the second World War. When it is announced that Olympics are to be held in London in 1948, Tapan, who has been wallowing in misery and has been drowning himself in drinks (which Indian film hero in doldrums does not drink himself in misery to misery?),
He approaches Mr. Wadia a Parsi gentleman who supports him to form a team despite opposition from others. Tapan manages to cobble together a decent team, despite the fact that Sartaj refuses to join the team.
And then partition is announced. The team is split into two. Some of the members migrate to Pakistan, some to Australia and only half of the team is left. Tapan has once again a task ahead of him to setup the team. He convinces Mr. Wadia to fund him once again and plays with his wife's ego to help him with the food for the team. He wrangles support from a Buddhist monastery for the use of their monastery to train the team. He and Sartaj build unity in the team members and also train them.
The rest as they say is history. He manages to take India to victory where in the finals they defeat the British on their home ground despite some in fighting within the team and attempts by the British to nix their chances. The movie shows that the ex-Indian team members who migrated to Pakistan also cheering India to victory.
It was nice to see Tapan use a strategy suggested by his wife earlier in the movie to help his team win the finals. A nice touch.
A decent movie to watch.
Dhyan Chand has been replaced by a fictional Sartaj. Tapan Das (Akshay Kumar) is a dhoti clad Bengali "sidey" manager of the team. Independence of India is on the far horizon and he wows to win the Gold for an independent "India".
The next two Olympics are cancelled thanks to Hitler and the second World War. When it is announced that Olympics are to be held in London in 1948, Tapan, who has been wallowing in misery and has been drowning himself in drinks (which Indian film hero in doldrums does not drink himself in misery to misery?),
He approaches Mr. Wadia a Parsi gentleman who supports him to form a team despite opposition from others. Tapan manages to cobble together a decent team, despite the fact that Sartaj refuses to join the team.
And then partition is announced. The team is split into two. Some of the members migrate to Pakistan, some to Australia and only half of the team is left. Tapan has once again a task ahead of him to setup the team. He convinces Mr. Wadia to fund him once again and plays with his wife's ego to help him with the food for the team. He wrangles support from a Buddhist monastery for the use of their monastery to train the team. He and Sartaj build unity in the team members and also train them.
The rest as they say is history. He manages to take India to victory where in the finals they defeat the British on their home ground despite some in fighting within the team and attempts by the British to nix their chances. The movie shows that the ex-Indian team members who migrated to Pakistan also cheering India to victory.
It was nice to see Tapan use a strategy suggested by his wife earlier in the movie to help his team win the finals. A nice touch.
A decent movie to watch.
No comments:
Post a Comment