Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Vijay Raaz, Anirudh Dave, and Yashpal Sharma
Director: Kabir Khan
Rating: 2/5
The Kartik Aaryan-led ‘Chandu Champion’, which hit screens on Friday (June 14), had the potential to be a riveting and inspiring underdog saga about a real-life hero but it ends up being a missed opportunity
The Kabir Khan-helmed sports drama revolves around Murlikant Petkar, a young man from Maharastra who aspires to win an Olympic Gold medal for the country and make his family proud of him. He, however, soon realises that this is easier said than done. He eventually joins the army to fulfill his childhood dream, which sets the stage for a series of shocking events that change his life forever.
The film has its heart in the right features pretty much everything, right from emotional moments to twists and turns, that one expects from a sports drama. It, however, fails to match the standards Kabir set for himself with ‘83’. The cricket drama featured an effortless performance from Ranveer Singh, who transformed into Kapil Dev with ease and replicated his mannerisms without mimicking them. The well-written screenplay further elevated the impact of his solid performance. ‘Chandu Champion’ sadly fails to deliver on these fronts.
Kartik puts his best foot forward but his body language is pretty much the same as the one we saw in his previous films. This is especially true for the lighter sequences where he tries to strike up a bond with Topaz (Rajpal Yadav), his caretaker, He is also not really able to convey his character’s pain through his eyes in the hospital scenes, which further dilutes the impact of his performance.
To make matters worse, the film features several promising subplots but most of them are not explored properly. Take the track involving Muralikant’s mother for instance. It could have added emotional depth to the narrative. However, this never happens as the character doesn’t get enough scope. The same applies to the subplot involving Anirudh Dave, who plays Murlikant’s brother, and Kartik. There is an emotional scene between them in the second half but that’s about all. The subplot would have worked better had the writers not reduced it to a mere afterthought.
The film also feels too predictable. This pretty much dilutes the impact of the wrestling match and the boxing bouts. Moreover, the wrestling sequence lack the intensity of the ones seen in Ali Abbas Zafar’s Sultan. Similarly, the boxing sequences aren’t particularly impressive. They feel staged, which wasn’t the case with the ones seen in the Tamil flick ‘Sarpatta Parambarai’.
‘Chandu Champion’, much like 83, features sequences in which the protagonist feels like a fish out of water because of his inability to communicate in English. These scenes are mildly entertaining. However, the humour here feels a lot less organic than in Ranveer Singh’s film.
The forced humour also dilutes the impact of the hospital scenes. Ideally, these sequences should have focused on Muralikant’s emotional turmoil in depth. However, these aspects often take a backseat and the focus shifts to jokes “matka” and “adult content”. As a result, the film often loses its gravity.
That said, the film has some merits as well. Vijay Raaz delivers an impressive performance as Tiger, Muralikant’s mentor. He underplays the character beautifully and hits the right notes with his caustic dialogues. Yashpal Sharma too breathes life into an inherently generic character. Shreyas Talpade shines in a role that is quite different from the one he played in the recently-released ‘Kartam Bhugtam’.
Similarly, Pritam’s tunes too are passable even though he is capable of better.
The background score is too generic and doesn’t quite elevate the reel action. The other technical aspects, right from the editing to the cinematography, have been handled with a fair deal of competence.
To sum up,’ Chandu Champion’ has its moments but it is hardly Kabir Khan’s best film.