R Balki’s Ghoomer, prioritises magic over logic (also a fantastic monologue by Abhishek), to tell a tale of human resilience and vulnerability. The film is inspired by the story of Károly Takács, the late Hungarian right-hand shooter who won two Olympic gold medals with his left hand after his other hand was seriously injured. Barring a few like Jayprad Desai’s outstanding cricket biopic ‘Kaun Pravin Tambe?’ (2022), Indian sports movies have largely been limited to the formulaic rags-to-riches theme. Politics within the team, team selection process and financial struggles of an athlete have dominated the narrative. R Balki’s Ghoomer breaks this template to give you a poignant and powerful tale on human resilience through cricket. In true Balki style, gender and age-related roles, superstitions and stereotypes are dismissed seamlessly. Shabana Azmi brimming with a youthful spirit plays Anina’s cricket expert granny. A self-proclaimed Roger Federer fan (which the senior actress is in real life, too), her character’s knowledge of ICC cricket rules and regulations, cricket trivia and technique to recipes of health drinks for pro athletes, works well to shatter the notion that women don’t get statistics. This makes you wonder, why female cricket enthusiasts predominantly end up as cricket anchors and not experts. The tortured yet endearing relationship between the rude coach and his player, is a common trope. Paddy resorting to a cruel training-toxic coach approach, is predictable but effective (remember Whiplash?). The film gains from their fiery conversations and differences. Paddy (Padam Singh Sodhi), is a loner who drowns his sorrows in a secluded house. His strange encounter with Anina changes their course of lives. He offers to train her so she could re-enter the Indian team as a one-handed bowler. He reminds himself, “Winners ko kaisay lagta hai, yeh ek baar mehsoos karna hai.” What makes the disgruntled misfit help Anina and transform her weakness into strength, forms the story. Paddy shares a strange relationship with the women in his life. This includes his house help, transwoman Rasika (feisty Ivanka Das) and an aspiring cricketer battling a life-altering disability. We hear of his good deeds through Rasika, but that side of him is long buried under a brutally impolite, ill-mannered persona. The only time he refrains from passing a barrage of snide remarks is when he’s sleeping. Years of rejection have turned his anger into stoic silence. He remembers, “I dreamt of playing for India one day and I played for India only for a day.” Meryl Streep’s introduction in the ‘Only Murders’… series as an actress who was never successful, sums up Paddy’s character. “All in pursuit of a moment in the spotlight, where you hope someone might see you and say, “where have you been”. What if those magic words never come and it's only rejection, over and over again?” It takes courage for an actor to play a character that speaks his truth. Underrated for too long, Ghoomer gives Abhishek his due. He bowls the best delivery of his career. The self-reflection makes it all the more real. The fact that Saiyami Kher is a cricketer-turned-actress, makes her the best choice for this extremely challenging part. One-handed bowling with just the left arm is no cakewalk but she nails it. Her athletic physique, stance and cricketing shots are impeccable. Her showdown with coach Paddy and boyfriend Jeet (Angad Bedi) are the film’s most moving scenes. Saiyami breathes life into a role that didn't require her to wallow in self-pity and yet make her trauma seen. Shabana Azmi’s majestic presence and timing, is a treat to watch. Ghoomer is elevated by its performances but its soul lies in R. Balki, Rahul Sengupta and Rishi Virmani’s uplifting writing that makes you both teary-eyed and chuckle. “Woh leftie nahi left hi hai” says Paddy to Rasika describing Anina. Characters are refreshingly supportive, non-judgmental, unpretentious and good-hearted. The film struggles a bit towards the end. It gets a tad predictable and crowd pleasing (match portions) as the creative liberties get a bit excessive. Can India’s national cricket team give its much coveted spot to a one-armed spin bowler, who cannot bat or field properly? Is media attention and the equal opportunity stance of selectors enough to bend the rules? The artistic license is aplenty but Ghoomer consciously chooses magic, hope and second chances. Your mind takes a sudden jolt when thinking, "What happens when everything's taken away from you in a span of few minutes? "Kisisay koi cheez bewaja cheeni jaye, woh galat hai." You can tell how obsessed Abhishek, Saiyami and Balki are about cricket while watching this one.Read more

Sports movies by their very nature tend to be predictable, formulaic affairs. They seldom deviate from traditional narratives such as the rise of an underdog, the comeback of a temporary waylaid, the transformation of a rebel star into a team player, and the redemption of a tireless, committed coach who wants to give their life another chance through someone else. R Balki’s Ghoomer uses cricket as a metaphor to tell the story of a woman cricketer who rises against all odds, but in the process of telling this story, the director fails to rise above the clichés of the genre. Nevertheless, he does succeed in creating a credible world and, thanks to affecting performances from its principal players, gives us characters that we can care about. Inspired by the story of Károly Takács, the late Hungarian right-hand shooter who won two Olympic gold medals with his left hand after his other hand was seriously injured, Balki gives you a poignant and powerful tale of human resilience through cricket. Anina (Saiyami Kher) is on her path to becoming a famous woman cricket player (by representing India); her abilities are aided by being a good batswoman and her family including her grandma (Shabana Azmi), father (Shivendra Singh Dungarpur) and boyfriend (Angad Bedi). On a few occasions, an inebriated former bowler named Padam Singh Sodhi aka Paddy (Abhishek Bachchan) violently bursts her ideal bubble. Soon after, Anina has a freak accident that causes her to lose her right arm, further entwining her life with Sodhi’s. Although the idea is lovely, the narrative comes across as convenient and occasionally even confusing because certain emotions are overrepresented especially in the first half. The emotional stakes appear flimsy. Like, the final match that they play in the film is shown to make Anina look like the hero. To highlight Anina’s abilities despite her limitations, the final match’s handy narrative downplays the strengths of her other teammates. Despite a promising beginning, the game turns out to be pretty gimmicky. The second half significantly improves the screenplay and an emotional commitment to the characters’ journey. Once the film enters the sports montage and underdog journey territory, it’s on surer footing. The director takes care of the technicalities of cricket without delving into them too much. And the sprinkles of humour throughout the film help ease the intensity. The story does not have any twists and turns and runs on predictability. It is to Balki’s credit that he still holds the audience’s interest right down to the last ball and a lot of credit goes to the actors who bring the story to life with zealous honesty. It helps that Kher has excellent form as a batsman since we can sense Anina’s unwavering devotion to the game. She is convincing because of her love for the game off the camera also. Kher’s performance is endearing even outside of the pitch, and her connection with Azmi gives the movie a deeper perpective. Anina is devastated and angry after experiencing a great loss and learning that she might never be able to play cricket again; an expressive Kher effectively conveys both sides of her anguish. Bachchan looks every bit the disgruntled coach and takes the cake when it comes to being grumpy all the time. He is an ideal example of the archetypal mentor figure since he has turned into a brazen recluse as a result of getting the raw deal in life. He speaks quickly to everyone; he encounters and drowns all his sorrows in a bottle of whiskey every night. He shares a home with his rakhi sister Rasika (Ivanka Das), as both of them share a love-hate relationship. His depiction of a damaged alcoholic, a fatally flawed and wounded soul, fighting his inner demons, is captivating especially the monologue sequence where he agrees to be a loser all his life and wants to taste victory just once. Azmi, as usual, is first rate and even she has her moments in the film. Bedi and Dungarpur lend good support to the film. Amitabh Bahchan’s cameo will leave a smile on your face. Ghoomer sticks to familiar ground as far as a sports film goes, Amidst all the faux sentimentality, we still get a protagonist that we can’t help rooting for. That is the film’s real success. Read more