When I first heard about it from my work colleague, who is from a nearby area to Chambal, I wasn't as thrilled. Later, as I got to know about the storyline, it reminded me of my days as an sportsperson (yes, I was a State Champion shooter!).
I made a resolve. I will watch this movie first day first show. It so happened that I ended up being present at the In
ternational Premiere of the film at South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF 2010) in NYC in Chelsea area.
The movie was very well made (10 being peerless):
- Subject Matter research was 9/10.
- Acting was 9/10.
- Direction was 7/10.
- Overall movie was 9/10.
Given that this movie has translated this story of an international champion to a rebel into a message criticizing conditions of sportspersons in India, I decided to ask a question to Irrfan (yes, he changed his name from Irfan Khan to just Irrfan):
'Irrfan, if you had to suggest three improvements to Sports Ministry of India....what would they be?'
To this, he didn't answer in three points. However, he ended up stating that he wasn't a specialist in this field and that government should have nothing to do with sports talent discovery and nurturing.
In my opinion, if the film makers decided to criticize the government (in a subtle way) then they must be ready to suggest improvements in case they are put in the shoes of the GOI; and yet, they were ill-prepared to handle this simple question. A critic has no right to comment in case they don't know how to improve the situation. Arm-chair commenting is one thing and constructive criticism is another; mostly for a progressive society, the latter is preferred.
This movie is yet to be released in India. Irrfan does not believe that this movie will have any effect on the Government of India or the way they approach nurturing sports talent. I think this movie would have an effect; at least, as an eye-opener. Also, it will serve as a source of inspiration for corporate marketing departments to patronize sports persons in lieu of marketing. Currently, the marketers are hungry for eye-balls for their products in a country, whose citizens have an increasing discretionary purchasing power and a constantly shrinking attention span.
Today, the government's facilities are much better as compared to Tomar's days (1950s). National Economic Liberation Policy (NELP) of 1991 opened up for foreign investments in India; and, in sports as well. We have already seen the boom in cricket with the foreign money and players flowing in ... in form of IPL (20-20) and other forms of the sport. Several other sports are finding corporate sponsors as well.
In conclusion, for approaching a matter as a critic, I think the Indian movie makers must approach it with a bit more progressive attitude than this. Differences apart, the movie is a must-see for a discerning movie-goer in India.
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