A rather common plot about a 30 plus sportsperson trying to re-establish himself/ herself in the sport some years after retirement and facing hurdles/ humiliation/failure. We had a movie " Panga" where the 30 plus kabaddi player Kangana Ranaut with a child to look after, stuggles to make a come back in the national kabaddi team.
In this movie we have an ex Ranji cricketer Shahid Kapoor who has not played for a decade, now 36 and wants to make it to the national cricket team to prove to his young son and himself that he can be successful . He doesn't have the support of his wife ( Mrunal Thakur) who wants him to continue in his secure government job. Shahid Kapoor does a good job as the angry, frustrated and confused cricketer not able to achieve success. An interesting scene is one in which he rides his bike in despair to the railway station, screams out his anger on the railway platform and the noise of a passing train drowns out the noise. Good one that. Shahid continues to retain his " Kabir Singh" persona both in looks and demeanour which works for him. There is a tendency to capitalize on his successful image. What goes against the film is the long running time of 2 hour 50 minutes due to which it drags at many places. At least 30 minutes could easily be edited out. The movie is predictable too in addition to its slow pace. A few scenes are unconvincing like Shahid not able to raise Rs 500 despite having four friends ! (One also has seen the superb Dhoni movie on a similar subject and which had class.) The movie has some warm and touching scenes of father -son bonding with Shahid and his young son. (Ditto for similar scenes of real father- son Pankaj Kapoor and Shahid.) Mrinal Thakur as the wife having differences with husband Shahid has acquitted herself admirably. Pankaj Kapoor as the affectionate coach is impressive as usual.
