After Viruddh another movie that drives you to tears and ecstasy in a brilliant display!!
IQBAL
The Team
Shreyas Talpade, Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad, Shweta Prasad, Yateen Karyekar, Prateeksha Lonkar.
Directed by: Nagesh Kukunoor
Produced by: Subhash Ghai’s Mukta Searchlights Films
The Pitch Report
Finally, Nagesh Kukunoor (Hyderbad Blues, Teen Deewarein) has snapped out of his ‘Blues’. And he’s out there in the heat, dust, soil and grime real games of Bollywood cinema. Things that boys love. The kind of stuff that tough men are made of. With his acumen for human interest stories, honed over the last few years, (Hyderabad II didn’t obviously contribute to this growth at all), Kukunoor found the perfect pitch for his plot. The story is about the one game that drives the nation (sometimes to insanity) – cricket; a deaf and mute underdog from a distant nondescript village, and the underlying politics that undermine the very purpose of thee game. And lo and behold … you have a story that makes the core of your inner emotion feel good and from the very bottom of your sensitive heart. It gives you hope that good cinema can be entertaining and can become a successful blend of art and commerce. The film takes you through see-saw like emotions that run so deep, you want to take ‘Iqbal’ home with you.
Action Replay
This game of cricket has three main players – Iqbal (Shreyas Talpade), Iqbal’s sister (Shweta Prasad) and Mohit (Nasserudin Shah) Iqbal’s coach. The opening bowler (yeah, you read it right, its not batsman) is Iqbal. The deaf and mute, Iqbal has lived and breathed cricket from the time he was in his mother’s womb. His mother was a cricket crazed woman, much to her husband’s disapproval. While his father badgers him to work in the fields to support his family, 18-yr-old Iqbal has dreams of a different kind. Every morning he sets out with his buffaloes to the grazing fields, well, that’s what his father believes, for Iqbal has a different agenda. He spends the day practicing bowling on a dry patch of land, with three gangly sticks as the wickets and the buffaloes as the wicket-keepers. Well, his healthy, rotund band of buffaloes even have starry cricket names like – Sachin, Kambli, Kapil, etc. His only support system is his kid-sister (Shweta Prasad) and his mother who share his dreams of becoming a cricketer in the national cricket team.
It’s not long before, his sister convinces the coach (Girish Karnad) to train him with the Koilpad Cricket Academy. That being his first formal initiation to the game. Much like what happens in real life, he gets expelled from the team because of the ‘money’ games of the rich and famous.
Life drags him back to his buffalos, the parched fields and his wicket sticks that are perpetually lugged around on his back. Until he finds the alcoholic Mohit (Naseer) and identifies him as an ex-cricketer. After much silent persuasion (because Mohit doesn’t understand and Iqbal doesn’t speak), the real game begins. And we’re telling you, it’s not about cricket.
The Highlights
With simple narrative, awe-inspiring performances, and stirring background score, ‘Iqbal’ takes you through a gamut of emotions, victories and failures. Devoid of any sword-splitting action, edge-of-the-seat suspense and an overtly dramatized climax, the film keeps you on the edge of your seat through it’s entire 50 overs, and Iqbal stays ‘not out’ in your memory.
The Man of the Match
The Man of the Match is undoubtedly Marathi actor Shreyas (Iqbal) Talpade, his performance is outstanding in a film that marks his debut. His determination, courage, angst and innocence filters through his expressions without a moment’s strain. The most beautiful aspect about his character is that you almost forget that he’s physically disabled. You begin to chase his dreams with him and then his disability becomes a unique part of his personality. Like Nagesh rightfully stated, “I wanted the audience to forget about Iqbal being deaf and mute in the first five minutes of the film. People who are physically disabled are happy in their worlds, it’s us who make them feel helpless by harping about it.” Full on, for that Kukunoor. Shreyas holds his head high even with performers like Naseer and Girish Karnad on the same field.
Naseer matches Shreyas ball by ball. Actually it would be incorrect to compare the two, but Naseer is in a different league, but we had to choose only one Man of the Match, right. And we believe in fair play, you see. After a long time, we’re seeing Naseer as we know him – a matchless actor, with acting skills that have been honed to the sharpest edges of an actor’s knife. His trials and tribulations and frustrations with cricket’s corrupt systems convince you thoroughly; only a natural actor like him can play ball in this role with such a scorching pace.
The other key player Shweta Prasad (Iqbal’s sister), who was seen in Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Makdee’, is absolutely adorable. As an actor this girl shows immense potential. Her interaction between Iqbal, Mohit and her will leave you in splits. The movie performances are all one played in super team spirit.
Full Marks to the Team Coach
This is Nagesh Kukunoor’s best effort so far. Much like the theme of his film, the director rises ‘above’ the mundane with ‘Iqbal’. After ‘Lagaan’, this is the only other well made film about cricket, yet, it’s not about the game. It rises far above the trivialities of a game played on the field - it’s about the power of the human mind, its indomitable spirit, the will to conquer every dream. It probably takes wing from the inspirational soaring of Jonathan Livingstone Seagull…but its adaptation into the Indian context is marvelously done.
It’s tough to predict if ‘Iqbal’ will make a mark at the B.O, and win the world cup; but if we were the officiating umpires, we’ll say this was one of the best matches we’ve ever seen. A game well played. A match well won. And frankly, this is film ‘above’ B.O success stories anyways, though it deserves marquee mania at all stadiums!