A film that could have been played better

Jasmine Singh

Khido Khundi, apparently, first Punjabi film on hockey, or should we say the first could-have-been-made-better Punjabi film on hockey. Sports, is a pretty much neglected subject in Punjabi films. Director Rohit Jugraj has, however, courageously taken up the subject based on an actual and inspiring village Sansarpur, which has produced 15 Hockey Olympians.

For the director this subject was certainly a challenging one, given the story is rooted in the real, which is why the treatment too had to be kept as real as possible.

For one, Rohit Jugraj has picked up a really inspiring story and shot it really well. He has used all the locations and actors to the best of their ability.

But what seems to be the biggest drawback of Khido Khundi is that where the first half of the film is racy and also belongs to Rohit Jugraj, the second half looks so much like Chak De India- with the boys of course!

So much so, that during the last twenty minutes, one is transported back to Chak De India, where the girls have been replaced by the boys, Shah Rukh Khan by Manav Vij and Sagarika Ghatge by Ranjit Bawa. This is where the film loses its own identity and this is where Rohit Jugraj loses his creativity!

The film begins with an interesting family introduction, citing reasons as to why Ranjit Bawa (Fateh) is not being allowed to play hockey initially.

Everything is going well; we have a low down on Sansarpur, which is informative, there are enough emotions, a nice song, drama and then comes the second half, the ‘Punjab’ half when you feel like saying, ‘ah ki Chak De India la ti.’ Rohit, who is known for his film Jatt James Bond, makes a good effort to turn all eyes towards the sport Hockey, but had he not got inspired by the already successful film (Chak De India) in the second half; Khido Khundi would have gone down the pages of sports history!

The clear winners of the film are its characters. Actor Manav Vij is a clear winner here. His role and his conviction in dialogues make him worth watching on screen. Manav has a strong control on his body language and dialogues, and not for a moment does he leave his character of Harry. Next up is singer-actor Ranjit Bawa who nails his character completely. He is playful and focused, though one feels that his role needed more conviction and refinement. Ranjit Bawa proves himself as a fine actor yet again. Mandy Takhar plays a strong role in the film and she definitely proves that she is here to act, only if given a chance and some more space and some more dialogues! Elnaaz Norouzi is a pretty addition to the film, and well Punjabi cinema cannot do without pretty faces.

Actors Gugu Gill and Mahabir Bhullar are also a part of the film, it’s a different story that they add nothing to it. A round of applause for all the other characters (artistes who are a part of Punjab team) for being so real and natural. Watna Ve is an inspiring track that boosts up the ‘second half Chake De boys team’.

Khido Khundi makes for a good watch, it could inspire youngsters to look at Hockey with renewed interest, but if they get a whiff of Chak De India in the second half...well.  

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