Kher, Gupta pack a Stallone punch in ride of a lifetime

Parbina Rashid

As the nation goes after Rocky and Rani to know their prem kahaani, I train my remote on a Rocky fan instead. The nudge came not from the uninspiring title of the film, ‘Shiv Shastri Balboa’, or the poster of a wrinkle-kissed face un-aesthetically juxtaposed with a boxer’s muscular body, but word of mouth!

The movie opens with retired banker Shiv Shastri (Anupam Kher), a die-hard Rocky Balboa fan from Bhopal and founder of the local Rocky Boxing Club, preparing to move to the US to live with his son. We also come to know about his sole ambition — to go to Philadelphia and shoot a video on the famous Rocky Steps for his favourite news anchor Rajat Sharma’s show.

Director and writer Ajayan Venugopalan centres his film on boxing but gives us action of a different kind. Shastri’s adventure gives glimpses of Sylvester ‘Rocky’ Stallone’s philosophy, not his boxing prowess. Shastri, who has never stepped inside a boxing area, has internalised Rocky’s underdog-to-a-star story from the Hollywood blockbuster and tells it to anyone who cares to listen.

His adventure begins the moment he lands in the US as cops pick him up for urinating in the open and he is made to pay $75. Well, he has a prostrate issue, which keeps popping up throughout the length of the film. His life becomes a crazy ride once he meets Elsa Zacharia (Neena Gupta) from Hyderabad, working as a housekeeper. Both decide to embark on a road trip together, without informing their respective families. He heads to Philadelphia for his dream run on the Rocky Steps, and she to catch a flight back home having had enough of her exploitative employers.

‘Retire naukri se hote hain, zindagi se nahin,’ Kher tells his son (Jugal Hansraj, as handsome as ever), and who can contest that?

An unfortunate incident, however, cuts short their journey mid-way and forces them to stay with a wannabe Punjabi singer, Cinnamon Singh (Sharib Hashmi).

Throughout the two-hour-six-minute runtime, we are taken on a joy ride as Kher befriends the family’s pug, Casper aka Capsule, and has hilarious conversations through the pooch’s thought bubbles, takes care of his grandchildren, takes on a gang of bikers, goes to a strip club, pretends to be Cinnamon’s father (and Gupta his mother) to impress his girlfriend Siya’s (Nargis Fakhri) parents and finally, both have a run-in with the law.

Kher as Shastri is a delight to watch as he owns each frame with his acting and dialogue delivery. The high point of the movie is his amazing chemistry with Gupta. As a vodka and beer-guzzling grandma, Neena Gupta’s acting and Hyderbadi accent are spot-on. Hashmi is on a firm footing here as an oh-so-familiar Punjabi singer. We have seen Jugal Hansraj after a long time on screen and he looks endearing as Shastri’s NRI son. Fakhri’s presence adds to the visual quotient.

The movie touches upon multiple themes like alienation, racism, culture shock, but everything comes in a measured tone. No over-the-top melodrama. Venugopalan’s taut direction and a well-written script do not let such issues sit heavy on the heart and distract the viewers from Shastri and Elsa’s journey to reclaim their lives. The plot, however, becomes a little drag with a predictable outcome when Elsa is arrested in a child abuse case.

If you have had enough of Tom Cruise’s gravity-defying actions (‘Mission Impossible’), taxed your brain over nuclear fusion and fission (‘Oppenheimer’) and withstood the nauseating assault of 50 shades of pink (you know which one I am talking about), this is a film to soothe your fraying nerves.

And, I am happy for Anupam Kher as he makes it to the main poster of a film again after spending 38 years in the industry. With wrinkles and all!