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'Chandu Champion' review: Kartik Aaryan is in fine form in this cliché-riddled film

Chandu Champion is an engaging watch

Director: Kabir Khan

Starring: Kartik Aaryan, Vijay Raaz, Shraddha Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Rajpal Yadav

Rating: 3 stars

An aspiring sportsman with big dreams declares his desires to his father. The conservative dad gives him a resounding slap and advice to focus on studies. Later, he chides his son for not earning enough. The errant, but determined young man doesn’t pay heed and follows his own path, constantly losing his cool when people call him ‘loser’. Much later, we get a rousing speech about people of determination and how they are just like regular folk.

Why are these disparate scenes being highlighted? Because watching Chandu Champion gives a distinct sense of déjà vu. The afore-mentioned sequences were the very challenges that characters in two recent Hindi films faced – Rajkummar Rao in Shrikant and in Mr. and Mrs. Mahi. While the former was a real-life story about a visually-impaired self-made billionaire, the other was a fictionalised tale of finding oneself amid sporting glory. Chandu Champion has both, love for sports and physical disability at its core.

Thankfully, Kabir Khan’s biographical sports drama is far superior to both the movies I just discussed.

Highlights

Let’s talk the positives first. Point no. 1 goes to Kartik Aaryan. The actor has improved by leaps and bounds, and it’s heartening to see him live up to the faith his director places in him. As the angry wannabe Olympian Murlikant Petkar who joins the army in the hope of getting a chance to represent the country only to feel frustrated when he loses movement after being shot nine times during the 1965 war and then rising again to become a Paralympian gold medallist, Aaryan gets to portray a wide range of complex emotions. He does really well to the extent that he eclipses the goofy, one-note Luv Ranjan heroes he’s been largely playing so far. However, his trying-too-hard Marathi accent jars; it just doesn’t sound right.

The second high point is seeing Vijay Raaz in a pivotal role. As the no-nonsense mentor-coach Tiger Ali, Raaz puts in a stellar performance, lifting every scene he is in. The sound design, background score and cinematography are uniformly good. The sports scenes are especially well-directed with the last swimming race evoking the feelings a film like this needed. Khan frames his leading man in extreme close-ups, and it’s obvious he has lavished a lot of attention on the star, treating his character with respect and love.

Dealing with adversity

Then there is story of the man himself on whom the film is based. Petkar was India’s first individual Olympic gold winner whose name was forgotten by history, but his is a remarkable tale of courage against every possible adversity. As with most biopics based on inspiring unsung heroes, you realise that this was a story waiting to be told and Khan, after a lukewarm turn in 83, almost returns to form with Chandu Champion.

I say almost, because this film, as with a lot of other ‘well-intentioned’ movies, falls into the category of ‘death by clichés’. The first half leaves you unmoved because it’s so predictable. Agreed, a sports biopic by its very nature doesn’t offer any surprises. But surely, it can be treated with a bit more subtlety? Instead, the director and his co-writers, Sumit Arora and Sudipto Sarkar, want to stuff in every single trope of emotional-war-sports flicks.

Hero gets mocked by his peers? Check. Hero gives it back to them? Check. Hero gets rejected but persists? Check. Hero gets distracted and loses a spot? Check. Hero trains hard with a background song? Double check. More annoyingly, these moments are amplified through loud, cheesy dialogues.

Making a mockery of things

Murlikant gets teased by his school and village mates who mock him by calling him “Chandu champion” (loser champion, say the subtitles). This is played so obviously, their laughter bordering on a cackle, that it’s hard to sympathise with young Murli. Similarly, in the army training scenes, the team leader (Yashpal Sharma) and the coach (Raaz) yell instructions and orders screaming at the top of their voice. There are unnecessary songs placed at inopportune moments and there are some very unfunny scenes with Rajpal Yadav and stereotyped Parsi nurses. The lines about the treatment of society towards the differently-abled or the motivational lectures about not giving up seem straight out of a self-help book. Finally, there’s my pet peeve – forced patriotism equating Petkar’s struggles and success to India fighting back when everyone writes it off.

However, these annoyances melt away as Khan regains his grip on the plot. Be it the war or sports scenes, despite the loudness, you feel drawn into Murli’s efforts. It reminded me of Khan’s acclaimed Bajrangi Bhaijaan where he wrung every emotion out of the audience and they willingly participated. Indeed, Chandu Champion works best when the emotions are organic and do not appear to seek attention towards the hero’s plight.

The movie ends on a high note with Petkar getting the attention he deserves followed by the montage of the Olympian himself – a usual practice in films made on real-life incidents or people. And by this time you are invested and inspired by the story enough to forgive the early excesses. In a nutshell, even if it’s not exactly a champion of a film, Chandu Champion remains an engaging watch.

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