Starring: Navdip Singh, Simer Motiani, Bajrang Bali Singh and Nafisa Ali
Director: Zaid Ali Khan
Rating: 2 stars
Khwaabb could have been a far more polished film dealing with the incredible subject of the Indian sports system and how it’s plagued by so many problems: from pot-bellied-pakora-gorging-corrupt-officials to lack of funds to performance-enhancing drugs being used by certain athletes. Alas, it suffers because of Zaid Ali Khan’s weak direction; the entire film becomes rather too sketchy and superficial.
Ram Prasad is an athletics coach. He spots an amazing swimmer named Kiran and an equally amazing athlete named Sanjay in a village, and decides to take them to the sports academy in Delhi.
The village girl arrives. One. Two. Dive. Into the holy lake. Coins, which she quickly rakes. Ram Prasad is impressed. But drunkard papa is depressed. Ram Prasad makes her an offer she can’t refuse. Drunkard papa, bye bye.
The stranger talent scout could have been a drug peddler, a serial killer, a full-blown Gulshan Grover type Baaaad Maaaan!! But the girl still packs her potli and decides to tag along after her exact three-and-a-half minute meeting with the stranger sir.
Then comes on board the lady’s admirer, whose Speedy Gonzales act clocks unbelievable numbers on Ram Prasad’s stopwatch. Aur waise bhi what’s a Hindi film without a bit of Yin and Yang. So the three reach the academy, that’s called, err, Academy. Yes, only Academy.
The girl meets her swimming coach who is too touchy-touchy, hence instantly fired. Nafisa Ali is then happily hired; the new coach in her sneakers and salwaar kameez, who trains in just three words - tez, tez aur tez!!
It is this lack of depth in writing and characterisation that turns a fabulous story into an unconvincing film. The film packs in too many issues and hardly gives ample time to any one of them.
Sleazy coach, eager to approach, jealous rivals and substance abuse, innocent girl has no clue, lack of funds, preference to politician’s sons!! All haphazardly tied!! Neighbors (no) envy, filmmakers (no) pride!!
Consequently, the outcome doesn’t quite engage or convince. It didn’t leave me on the edge of my seat, feeling the players’ anguish or rooting for them in their races.
The scenes are pretty vague, lacking depth and a natural flair. Dialogues are spoken in an animated manner, like kids in grade five at their annual function. Navdip Singh plays the main lead, the athlete Sanjay. He shows promise and might do better with a better director. He is passable for his debut. Simer Motiani though, playing a central role, lacks conviction.
The film also packs in a crash course in ‘How to play a Hindi film villager’. Just swap your z with j and your f with ph. So ‘z’aroorat becomes ‘j’aroorat, ‘f’ail becomes ‘ph’ail. Put on some badly-fitting clothes and voila your Hindi film villager is ready instantly!!
In one scene, Sanjay has problems running in shoes. Of course, of course!! After all, he comes from a village. Villagers don’t wear shoes. So cut copy paste a scene from Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Except BMB was based in the 1950s. This is 2014. People in villages KNOW what shoes are and how it feels to run in them.
It’s difficult to shoot a sports film but cinematographer Aharon Rothschild manages to get some fabulous underwater shots.
I wish the main protagonists themselves dreamt of becoming national players instead of realising it from the stranger Ram Prasad sir. It would have looked far more convincing then. The makers have put an extra ‘b’ in the title of the film - Khwaabb. Hope this numerology helps. I doubt if anything else would.
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