Bolly hockeysticks! Biopic of an Indian hero scores for romance but misses the sporting target
Soorma
Starring: Diljit Dosanjh, Taapsee Pannu, Angad Bedi, Vijay Raaz, Satish Kaushik Directed by: Shaad Ali
Biopics can be inspiring, but they also tend to gloss over the negative shades of the subject’s personae. As long as they are not as big a whitewash as Sanju was for Sanjay Dutt, that should be fine. The good news is that
Soorma, meaning warrior, which tells the story of India’s field hockey player, Sandeep Singh, is not a whitewash. It rotates around a love story that weaves its way in and out of his sports life. There is a healthy dose of brotherly love, and some hopeless acting from seemingly stern coaches and administration officials but compensated with good music and songs.
Singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh, who plays Singh, and Shaad Ali, the director, are the real soormas of the film. Dosanjh’s voice to Ishq di baaziyan is velvety, but opposite to his stick-solid performance.
On the eve of the film’s release, Singh told The National,
“It is a nice, clean film just as the pure relationship I had with her [his lady love].” However, that relationship, which forms the backbone of the plot, has been needlessly diluted from real life to show that Singh picked up a hockey stick after Preeto (played by Taapsee Pannu) came into his life. It is a twist that does injustice to the spirit that Singh showed in real life.
Soorma jumps straight to Singh’s youth and ends on a high note when he returned to the field despite being almost paralysed by a freak gunshot incident when travelling in a train for the 2006 Hockey World Cup in Germany. Doctors said he might not play again, but he went on to earn the tag of “Flicker Singh”, the defender who holds the record speed of 145km/hour for his drag-flick shot in the sport.
The film adds unnecessary drama, showing Preeto trying to inspire Flicker Singh to get back on his feet. His real-life Preeto, Harjinder Kaur, was always by his side. They married after many years of courtship, with the former women’s hockey international player trading her stick to be a homemaker by choice.
The film jumps to Singh’s youth and ends on a high note with his return to the hockey field
A sportman’s biopic is even more difficult given the skills involved to represent the protagonist in his full colour. Singh, also less famously tagged as Sultan of Shahabad, belongs to a Punjabi Sikh family from the small town in Haryana, Shahabad Markanda.
Dosanjh, as the turban-clad hockey player, delivers a standout performance after training under Sandeep for just three to four months.
After making his debut, the popular romantic film
Saathiya, starring Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukerji, director Shaad Ali has struggled for more than a decade to impress. His last, moderately successful, directorial venture was Bunty aur Babli, which starred Abhishek Bachchan and again, Mukerji, which he directed 13 years ago, in 2005. But he is back with a bang with this flick, which runs along
the theme of Salman Khan’s
Sultan. But the sporting scenes of the film are limited and in watching them, one is left yearning for more.
However, in the scenes of the India-Pakistan hockey clashes, for instance, a rivalry with his penalty corner specialist counterpart, a reference to Sohail Abbas, is a treat to watch.
It is said that Sandeep Singh asked for a hockey stick to be in bed with him while fighting
back from his wheelchair days. When he returned to the game, he ruled the Azlan Shah Cup tournament in Malaysia, as well as the Olympic qualifiers in India.
There is no reference these incidents, which would have accentuated the warrior aspect of his personality, but these are nuances only sports-lovers would desire.