The best hindi movie of the year so far. Review on Iqbal

In short

Movie is about : Dreams and the struggle of a village boy who wants to play for Indian Cricket team

Screenply: Very crisp, to the point (So no songs obstructing the pace of movie)

Direction: Practical and down to earth

I saw this movie about 10 days ago and since then had been planning to write a review on this movie. Before giving my view lets look at what is this movie about ....

On the subject of the movie, the subject is not so very new - protagonist working hard against all odds, all difficulties to finally emerge as chamion. The odds here are his (Iqbal) father and the coach (Girish Karnad) of a reputed academy. WHile father wants Iqbal to study and help in his work (he does farming) ; coach does not want to help him and on account of his greed promote players who have huge pockets to pay him (fees, donations for his academy etc, etc).

So how does a villager who is poor (atleast not good economically), is deaf-mute can achieve such a feat of playing for his own country when others who had been training cant. Here comes his guru. his mentor ; a drunk (Mr. Nasirudding Shah) who is an old player who actually broke in the similar situation of injustice and nepotism in selection policy of cricket. Why a drunk and broke person, who can't do anything other than getting himself drunk will teach a rookee ? Here comes our hero who pleads him,begs him and finally persuade to teach him cricket.

So far so good, so is that all ?; Iqbal gets a trainer and works hard and gets selected for Indian team ... :-D . No my dear what the hell then his father will do and what about the crooked coach CC (Girish Karnad). They play foul in all his attemps to stop him, though his father does this becoz of sheer ''Father's Syndrome'' (Study , work hard, work even harder, get a good job/ work on fields and blah blah). FInally his father changed his mind but what did the CC does , what tactics he applied to stop Iqbal... that you have to watch. Also watch out for ''Chakravhiyu'' a kind of strategy adopted by Iqbal in the final match. What else ... watch out for rivalry of Iqbal with the batsman contender for Indian team, Iqbal and his sister's love etc, etc..

so that was about the movie, About Direction I think Nagesh Kukunoor has done a fantastic job and this is what you can expect from Nagesh Kukunoor. Story is simple and down to earth, screenplay too good (i think he wrote this in just 6 days, marvelllous!!) , almost no loopholes (can think of if think about that). But overall direction is very good, u may remember the simplicity of Rockford and Hyd Blues... it just like that. Nagesh's strenght are his clarity of thought and his storytelling, which he has proved in all his previous ventures, so this u can expect here too.

AFA music is concerned, one song ''Aashayein....'' is good to listen. There is nothing much to say about the music though.

Thats all from me now, will come back if I recollect anything else. But this should be enough to give you a fair idea of the movie.

Dont go for it if u r looing for huge sets and songs, a playful and plasant movie, or think that it is about cricket (not like lagaan) , just 5 minutes of cricket. Go for it if want the ''feel good'' by watching some1 achieveing his dreams, and to sense that feeling of ''winning''.

Hope this was of some help.

cheers

Ritesh