SELECTION DAY
Mohan Kumar’s single aspiration is to see his sons Radha and Manju become the best batsmen in the world. The three leave their village for Mumbai with less than six months to go for Selection Day—when three under-16 players will be awarded professional contracts. After some big-bad-city humbling, the boys win a scholarship to an alternative school that hopes its cricket team will turn the school’s fortunes around. And for this, legendary coach Tommy Sir is coaxed into returning to the school’s cricket ground. Eyeing the same ground for real estate is a failed businessman whose gaze then turns towards sponsoring players.
Netflix’s new series Selection Day races through its material cursorily and quickly—the first season is six episodes of around 20 minutes. The main characters tend towards being one-dimensional and emerge from insufficient social context. The minor characters are entirely one-dimensional: security guards are too ready to be bribed; the powerful are too keen to make the underdog the underdog; the bully is all mocking bully. Even Mumbai, so often a redeeming setting, feels listless here. And its particularly vibrant schoolcricket bustle is shot mincingly, all tight frames and edits.
What makes Selection Day watchable are some of the performances. Mohammad Samad as Manju, the talented batsman who’d rather study science, is a joy on screen and admirably self-possessed (even in trying scenes, like the recurring gag in which an apparently fresh-from-gym Lord Subramanyam materialises next to Manju while he’s batting). Rajesh Tailang as Mohan is solid, veering deftly between monomaniacal and simply maniacal. Mahesh Manjrekar brings a kindly, comforting gravitas to the role of Tommy Sir.
Ultimately, Selection Day feels unsatisfying and insubstantial. So far, at least. A menacing undercurrent involving the boys’ missing mother remains unexplored. A tentative samesex attraction is handled with such reticence that viewers might wonder if they’re imagining it. Both could turn out to be strong plotlines in the future.
—Srinath Perur