veeny parel

jo log bol rahe hai ye ek Vacchi movie hai...pata nahi Q story flat hai bill koi connection hi feel nahi hua.. Acting is average and after a point it gets boring.Bollywood’s love affair with sports films isn’t something new. But of late we have had a spate of mainstream sagas with sportstars taking centrestage. These stories, about underdogs, their triumphs and struggles, are essentially entertaining and rousing stories. But, sadly, not all tales are interestingly narrated. Many of these stories that could be rousing and touching are ultimately undone by their bare-bones story arc and the desperation to show the main character as a flawless God-like being. Worse, some Hindi films make it worse by adding gratuitous romance and sentimentality that end up feeling more like a middling after-school special than an insightful look at sports and the dynamics within. In this week’s solo Hindi film release, Soorma, executive producer and director Shaad Ali could have had a winner on his hands despite not having much grist, since he knows precisely what to highlight. It’s the miraculous recovery and comeback of ace hockey player Sandeep Singh Soorma is more about a botched love story between Sandeep (Dosanjh) and his girlfriend, played by Taapsee Pannu. The love story is inspired by true events, as apparently his career began after he fell in love with the niece of his brother's coach. The film will repeatedly remind you that Sandeep took up hockey to win over the girl he loved, till you want to knock yourself out with a hockey stick. Here's the basic premise of the story. Sandeep starts playing hockey at the Shahbad local training center, just to be close to Harpreet, who is well on her way to make it to the national hockey team. In true Bollywood style, Harpreet falls in love with him, against the coach's wishes. The coach is a crass monster, of course, whose solution for everything is hitting people with hockey sticks. To prove his worth, Sandeep trains religiously for the hockey team in Patiala under coach Harry, played by a brilliant Vijay Raaz, who is probably one of the few redeeming factors in this dreary film. Sandeep becomes the hockey player - the drag-flick player we know today, whose skills are mostly highlighted in Indo-Pakistan matches, because we haven't heard that before, right? Far from being an inspiring or awe-inducing figure, Sandeep Singh has been portrayed as a unidimensional sketch who is a trifle monotonous at times. It's a waste of Dosanjh's capabilities, though he tries earnestly to breathe life into his character. Handicapped by Bollywood stereotypes and annoying clichés, he struggles with the slow pace and poor screenwriting of the film. Not all is a complete loss, though. Soorma has rare convincing moments in the second half, if you have any patience left. Angad Bedi sinks his teeth into the role of Bikramjit, Sandeep's elder brother. The moments between the two are actually pleasant to watch and evoke some emotion in you. Satish Kaushik as a father is pleasant to watch too. Sadly, these personal relationships and characters are eclipsed by the boring love story. Soorma is more a drag than a flick. It is a shame because this was Bollywood's chance to regale the audience with an inspiring story of a sportsman, whose return to hockey after a life-threatening incident was nothing less than miraculous. The film falls supremely short of harnessing dramatic potential and is just another hackneyed run-of-the-mill biopic. A champion is turned into a colourless Bollywood hero. Director Shaad Ali pulls the strings the moment Soorma starts looking like a sports film. He wants to keep the focus on a heartbroken hockey player’s boy-to-man journey. Sandeep’s hockey never comes to the forefront. Shaad Ali tells us his achievements in as many words. The screen freezes and a ticker announces his drag-speed to be the fastest in the world. It’s a simplistic approach that probably lacks the essence of real-life effort and struggles. It’s more like dragging story than a biopic. 4/10