Boxing film comes within a hair of being a real winner
True story of Canadian Sikh pugilist would have been better minus heavy-handed treatment
It wasn’t the fight he expected. When Pardeep Singh Nagra was banned by the Canadian Amateur Boxing Association from competing in 1999 because of his beard, the Canadian pugilist argued that it was a part of his Sikh faith. He had to go to court to be allowed to enter the ring.
His story has now been turned into a film by first-time writers Prem Singh and Michael Pugliese, who also star as Nagra and his nemesis, fellow boxer Brian Doyle. Australia’s Alister Grierson directs.
The story of a triumph over prejudice (and in the ring!) is great material, and it’s a shame the filmmakers didn’t trust the inherent drama of this true story. Some of the details, like the regional competition that cancelled an entire weight class rather than let Nagra participate, actually happened.
But Tiger adds romantic entanglements and some unlikely familial revelations, much of it heavily telegraphed and set to a clichéd score.
And despite filming largely in Hamilton, it sets the action in the United States, with Nagra consistently proclaiming himself “a patriot to the greatest country in the world.” I think Canada deserves to be called out, both for its racism and for those who stepped up to help Nagra achieve his dream, unshaven.
They include Janel Parrish (Pretty Little Liars), doing double duty as Nagra’s lawyer and love interest, and Mickey Rourke as coach Frank Donovan.
Of course, it all leads up to a pair of big matches, one in the courtroom and the other in the ring, both with American flags and values prominently on display. It’s a rousing sort-of biathlon, even though we’ve seen both components of this formula before.