Every now and again the Indian film industry takes it upon itself to produce a film about cricket and we at Cricket360.com wait eagerly to see what they will come up with. And indeed, over the years we have been regaled with marvellous films related to cricket such as Lagaan and Iqbal to recall just two. This editorial sadly has to conclude however, that the just released film based on cricket, that is Victory, starring Harman Baweja, Amrita Rao, Anupam Kher, Dalip Tahil, Gulshan Grover falls way short of the bench mark created by these classics.

One special review of the film has called it ‘predictable’ and ‘forgettable’. Another blames the massive amount of cricket coverage that is beamed into our homes the year round for making the film uninteresting: after all we see so much of cricket all the time; we know all about it!

The film is a usual story of a small town boy’s rise to fame, and his inclusion in the Indian cricket team, with a lot of histrionics and the inevitable Hindi film melodrama accompanying it. There is a the usual big bad business man to lead the talented but naïve youngster astray, the message of the ephemeral nature of fame and riches and even a highly patriotic and upright father thrown in for good measure. However the sum total of the film is not good news, it has a very Hindi-film-formula feel to it.

News about the film has it that the lead Baweja trained for some months on his batting so his foot work seems believable. Also if you want to see some cricket stars on celluloid, head out to watch Victory to see cricket greats such as Jajasuriya, Brett Lee and our very own Harbhajan Singh.

Iqbal was also a rags to riches film about a tremendously talented youngster (in the case of Iqbal a deaf mute) who rises to the dizzy heights of the Indian Cricket team, however the similarity ends there. Iqbal was touching, heartwarming, believable and very credible. The characters are well etched in Iqbal; very real and the kind that you immediately identify with. This Cricket360 editorial can’t say the same about Victory, alas!

It seems we will have to wait a while till the next Lagaan, Iqbal or even the next Chak De! is made….

Comments

Add New RSS

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

Newer news items:

Older news items: