Victory

The other film of the week is about India’s other ‘junoon’: ‘Luck By Chance’ backgrounds cinema,‘Victory’ does ditto with cricket.

Vijay (Hurman),a cricketer from small-town Rajasthan is so good that he should,by rights,have been in the Indian team. But,and this is a story we know well,he doesn’t even get a look-in on the Ranji.

‘Victory’ is about Vijay’s rise-fall-rise,the heady feeling of success,and the perils of untrammeled avarice. A greedy agent (Gulshan) gets his claws into the rising star,who slides down the slippery slope of here-now-gone-the-next-instant-fame,forgetting those who kept him grounded,‘deshbhakt’ dad (Anupam),and best bud (Amrita).

The film has been mounted lavishly,and no expense has been spared at making it look and feel authentic. A fleet of international cricketers have quite a lot of screen time. They include Harbhajan Singh and Jayasuriya and the dishy Brett Lee: their job is to stand around and applaud while our hero wins the matches.

Hurman’s batting looks credible (he trained for a few months),and his earnest playing of the part is miles away from the self-important,singing-dancing turn in his dud debut ‘Love Story 2050’. Anupam and Amrita lend able support. But again,what makes this film less than riveting is that we know so much of it — the setting,the situations — already. Blame the carpet coverage of cricket on TV channels.

‘Victory’ has all the right intentions,but its execution is bland.

shubhra.gupta@gmail.com