Sports movies are intrinsically formulaic. When we walk into the theatre we know that we’re going to see an inspiring story about an underdog who defies all odds, redeems himself and becomes a winner. The climax will of course feature a match, which will have a nail-biting finish. We don’t go to these movies for the plot. We go hoping to find pleasure in the telling of the tale.
In Victory, director Ajitpal Mangat marries the sports film formula to the small-towner-seduced-by-the-big-city formula and creates a painfully predictable and tedious film.
Hurman Baweja plays Vijay, a cricketing whiz from Jaisalmer, who goes from small town nobody to international cricket sensation in a few scenes.
The consecutive sixers on the pitch are followed by a song that celebrates money and before you know it our simple boy is slugging back the whisky and cavorting in a Jacuzzi with blondes.
Naturally no good can come from having so much fun. Mangat pulls off some nice stadium scenes but the excitement isn’t enough to light up the rest of the film, which is old fashioned in the worst sense of the word.
So, the clichés pile up, every emotion is underlined and everyone pitches performances at an ear-splitting level. Harman grimaces, weeps and grins so hard that it’s exhausting to watch. Even the usually dependable Anupam Kher playing the cricketer’s upright father, is reduced to a joke. Victory is a test of patience. This one is for die-hard cricket fans only.
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