Stand By

Indian Express rating: *1/2

There’s a Poor Boy,whose father dwells in a chawl and lives out his football dreams through his talented son. And there’s a Rich Boy,whose father lives in a mansion which looks like a hotel-hired-for-the-shoot,who wants to buy his son his dreams. The present and future of football in the country is played out in ‘Stand By’ in these black and white absolutes: poor man’s selfless idealism good,rich man’s selfish venality,very bad; cowardly politicians worse. The only one that can save Indian football is the Perfect Coach,who goes by merit,not connections.

An inspiring sports movie needs some of these familiar structures,so that the hero gets a field to play in. Poor Boy Rahul Narvekar and Rich Boy Shekhar Varma (Kothare,Kher) start out as good friends,and end on different sides. In between are the selectors who clamour for representatives from their region,and the officials who carry suitcases full of thousand rupee notes to bribe the meritorious,and netas who are shamed into doing the right thing only because they fear exposure in the media. Standing tall in ‘Stand By’ is the coach (Chaudahry),who is brave enough to ask for what he wants,and naïve enough to want to get it his way.

Despite its good intentions,and some nice on-field sequences where winning and losing is on display,’Stand By’ is marred by its clichés and long-windedness. The inexperience of the two young leads shows in several scenes; Tahil is made to fling his arms about and bluster. The only one who rises above it all is the dependable Sachin Khedekar,who has become Bollywood’s go-to guy for good dads.

shubhra.gupta@expressindia.com